Termites ruin everything
by lanie-love09
Summary: This story takes place after Rick and group breakout of Terminus (cause they will) and they are on their way to D.C. with a few "Terminus traders" in tow. However, they decided to settle in a friendly cul de sac for a little while. The people living in the cul de sac are survivors just like Rick and his group.
1. Chapter 1

As Michonne begins to walk home from the neighborhood announcement Karl runs up behind her and asks, "Did you already know that my Dad was going on a run?" "Yea, he told right before they left." She says. "It's probably really important like medication or tools or weapons or something", she says while grinning and rubbing his hair. "How far does the group have to go", Karl asks. "He said around twenty miles out, but they have a car, they are heavily armed, Daryl and Tyreese are with him so he will be alright Karl", she tells him reassuringly. Michonne stops and looks at sun setting in the sky then stops and looks at Karl, "It's getting late it will be dark soon and you really need to be locked in side with Jane and Judith, I gonna cut through these house to get home." Just as Karl begins to walk away he sees Jane walking with a sleepy Judith on her shoulder smiling and nodding for him to walk with them home.

Karl starts to walk toward Judith and Jane then stops and turns his head to the side and says, "Why is my Dad with her? He doesn't really like even being around her." "That's why he probably volunteered to go. Karl tells her. "Well, just because you can't see it doesn't mean there's nothing there Karl." "He just needs someone to take care of Judith that he can trust." Michonne says with concern. "Michonne, I can see plenty and I can see that he doesn't really want her…He wants someone else. I just wish I knew what the hell he's waiting for." Karl turns away from Michonne and begins to walk away while saying, "I maybe a kid but I am not blind Michonne, I know you're not blind either." Michonne grabs his arm upset by his tone, "Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" she whispers to him. Karl snatches his arm out of Michonne's hand and says, "You know what I am saying, 'we' should all be under the same roof. I don't know why you and my Dad can't see that yet", Karl pulls his arm back and walks away with an attitude.

Just as Karl starts to walk away from Michonne he immediately felt bad about how he spoke to Michonne. He didn't mean to come off so rudely he was just tired of the tip toeing that Rick and Michonne had been playing around him. Once Karl gets closer to Jane and Judith across the street, he turns around one more time to look at Michonne who has started walking toward the narrow pass between two boarded houses then she disappears. Karl looked at Jane and Judith then tells Jane, "Wait I forgot to tell Michonne something." "Can't it wait until tomorrow, it's starting to get really dark Karl", Jane responds in a whiny voice. Karl starts to feel really ill from how he reacted to Michonne and wanted to apologize before she goes in the house. The last thing that Karl wanted was to upset her. "No it can't", he says while running back across the street to the pass between the two boarded homes.

When Karl finally reaches the edge of one of the boarded houses he can hear a muffled yelling and scuffling. "Ouch! You Bitch!" Just as Karl turns the corner he sees three men trying to pin Michonne down on the ground. One of the men stands up and kicks her in her ribs knocking the wind out of, "That's for biting me", the man says. The second man is kneeling on the ground at the top of Michonne's head and cuts her on the cheek bone. The other man is straddled across Michonne's chest both of his knees holding arms down to the ground. "Where's that fucking sword", masked man standing up whispers then he starts to rip her pants off with her katana, in the process of his slashes the man jabs at the upper part of her inner thigh causing her to scream in pain but she can't be heard because her mouth is covered. "Get off her! Get off her!", Karl yells and starts running toward Michonne. One of the men drops the katana then all three run in the opposite direction.

Karl runs over to Michonne on the ground. Karl is trying hard to hold back his tears but she can hear trembling in his voice as he asks, "Are you o.k.?" Karl sniffles a little while trying to help Michonne stand up. "I think so just help me up." She tells him. Michonne begins to stand then she leans down to pull he pants up and begins to feel the hot blood rolling down the her inner thigh.. Michonne looks up and sees Jane holding Judith in her arms but Jane can't see Michonne well enough to noticed that she was attacked, "Karl, Chonne' are you guys alright", Jane yells. "We're alright, Karl will be right there", Michonne yells back. "Hand me my sword Karl" Michonne tells Karl in low voice. "I'm not going with her I am going with you; I need to help you home." Karl says strongly. "Karl if you don't go with Jane she will know something is up and then she will tell Rick and the rest of the neighborhood will know. And you and I know how Rick can get when he's pissed off." "I will be alright, just look for our signal in the window then come by first thing in the morning so that I can talk to you, o.k.?" Michonne was practically pleading with Karl to walk Jane and Judith back home.

Michonne wasn't too concerned about getting home she was more worried that her attackers might be waiting at her house and the last thing she wanted was Karl to bear witness to her being raped or worse getting raped himself.

As Karl watched Michonne's shadow limp the rest of the way between the two houses…alone, he started to get choked up and his eyes began burning with tears because he couldn't be there for Michonne. He started getting mad at his father…again. He felt that once again his father can't seem to protector or save anybody, Karl is upset at the fact that Rick and Jane are keeping him from protecting Michonne, he felt that he could take care of Judith and Michonne leaving Jane out of the picture and possible his father too. Karl started to resent Jane…a lot. In that short walk back to the house Karl was practically furious and he had his hand on his gun ready to draw.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Some things never change

Michonne unlocked the door to her domicile and closed the door. She did a painful limp walk through the living room. While she limped through the living room to the kitchen a trail of blood was pouring down her leg on the floor. Michonne was in complete shock by what just happened. She had let her guard down for the first time in order to fit in with what appeared to be an ordinary neighborhood with ordinary survivors just trying to live in this new world of the undead. But she was starting to understand…some things never change. Human nature never changes. She couldn't remember interacting with anyone that would warrant them to do such a vicious act. As she limped in to the kitchen she opened a drawer and pulled out some scissors and some tape then headed toward the stairs. She stopped to push the couch against the front door. Michonne knew even this task would be difficult; just about every movement the body makes involves using stomach muscles and hers were in really bad shape. So she took a deep breath and pushed the couch up against the door, then blowing the air out of her lungs leaning on the arm of the couch from extreme exhaustion.

Once Michonne got upstairs she attempted to clear the bedroom and the bathroom but she realized that she was dripping blood everywhere make more work for her-self in the long run. When she gets in the bathroom and secures the door knob with some coaxial cable wire wrapped around the faucet sink. She removes her clothes, as gently as possible, she tries not to use any stomach muscles. When she looks down at the side of her stomach she sees that the bruise has already turned a dark purple with a deep in print of a foot. She looks in the mirror and sees bruises on her chin and a semi-deep cut on her right cheek bone. When she reaches for the vinegar on a little shelf along the back wall to clean the cut on her face she forgets about her stomach. The painful reminder hits her so quickly that she ends up pulling the shelf crashing to the floor. Michonne looks at the broken shelf and begins to get furiously angry at her predicament. She was upset that she was taken by surprise, she was sorry that she walked between those houses but, she started thinking that maybe she should leave, that was before she remembered Karl and how he might hate her if she left.

Michonne understanding that she cannot focus on dressing her wounds while feeling rage began to calm down and started dressing the cut and bruises on her face. She grabbed the pieces of the broken shelf from the floor and dumped it in old supply bag for Daryl to use for arrows or something. When she gets in the shower the warm water runs down her body and stings the gash on her inner thigh as a puddle of blood forms around her feet before going down the drain. When gets out of the shower she ties her hair up, then begins to clean the gash in her leg with white vinegar. Once she places the gauze and tape on the on her leg she puts on an extra-large shirt grabs her katana and walks to the bedroom.

Michonne walks in to the bedroom and realizes that she forgot about the signal for Karl letting him know that everything is alright. So she grabs the candle on the window sill and lights it with an old bic lighter and places it in the window. A minute or two late Karl flashes his flashlight from two blocks over letting Michonne know that his sees it. She blows the candle out then gently lays down on the bed thinking how humans are in the most absolute desperate time sense coming in to existence on this planet; but the need to over-power the weak will always exist. However, she also knew that Karl needed to be here with his sister. They need some kind of stability for a moment, she knew that she had to delay saying anything to Rick for fear that he loses it and they are all back out on the road again. Considering these facts Michonne decides that she should probably sleep down stairs on the couch by the front door. Therefore she grabbed some loose fitting pants then grabbed her katana and went down stairs with a blanket. She had no plans of being caught off guard again.


	3. Chapter 3 Pay close attention

"Michonne it's me, its Karl open up." Karl says impatiently. Michonne gets up off the couch then pushes the couch away from the door. Karl had unlocked her door with the spare key she gave him, he rushes in and sees the bandage on her face and how it still hurts for her to stand. "Are you alright, did anyone come back last night", Karl blurted out. Michonne slowly closes the door and shakes her head no. Karl sees her eyes start to water, then he runs over to her and hugs her hard causing Chonne' a lot of pain but she didn't to break this moment for him.

The sun was in full view on the horizon but, you could tell the day was just beginning. Michonne dreaded having to tell Karl to keep the attack between the two of them for a while so they could stay in the neighborhood longer. Michonne walks Karl over to the couch and sits him down and says, "Karl…I want you to do something for me?" "What is it?" he asks. "I don't want you tell anybody about last night." "Especially Rick", she says. "But why", Karl says. Michonne stops and looks at Karl, "Because You and I know how Rick can get, and we need this place Karl. We can't keep moving Judith around not knowing where we are gonna land. She too little to understand what is at stake." "We have to stay, for right now anyway. I will be more careful", She says while getting up off the couch. "How will you explain you cuts, your bruises…" Karl asks. "Well if anyone asks, you say that I am having 'women's issues', people will leave me alone when they hear that…at least for a little while." "Look, I am not asking you to lie, I just want you to hold back details, o.k.?" Then when I am better I can confront this issue in the open." "And if it makes you feel better you can stop by anytime with the key I gave you. Just keep everybody from coming to see me, o.k.", Michonne says as she sits down on the couch and holds Karl's hand. "Just give me some time to heal that's all, alright?" Karl reluctantly shakes his head yes and hugs her again.

Michonne motions to Karl to go so she can push the couch back against the door. "I will try and get up at dusk to move the couch so you can get in to check on me. But just remember not to tell anybody that I move the couch in the morning." Michonne whispers. Karl looks at her and says, 'Of course but…", Karl looks down at his feet and says, "You don't look…well." "Well let's see how good you look when you take a beating like me", Michonne says jokingly. But Karl doesn't see the humor. Michonne smiles and looks at Karl, "Look I just need time to heal nothing more. Then I can take care of this situation. Just hold out on saying what you know alright?" Karl reluctantly shakes his head yes then says, "Well at least let me clean the blood up." Karl looks at the blood stains on the floor can. Michonne smiles and waves her arm like a show case girl and says, "Be my guest."

Rick, Daryl and Tyreese return with a couple of others from the urgent excursion to find supplies. When they reach the entrance to the cul de sac the driver gives the signal to let the guard know that they have no additional people with them. Once given the o.k. the group drives through the gates and park in the make shift motor pool next to a moving van, a pick-up truck and zip car that doesn't work because there are no more units that supply electricity to power the vehicles, a golf cart and a few bicycles. Rick gets out the truck with a few bags and looks at Daryl and Tyreese, Look, I am beat I'm gonna go check on Karl and Judith then get some rest. Daryl and Tyreese wave and start going up the block, Rick starts heading for the little house at the end of the block with some bags filled with pet and powdered milk.

Rick opens the front door to his domicile he announces that he's back. Jane comes running in to the living room and gives him a hug. She starts to kiss him all over his face while saying, Oh, I am so glad you are home safe! We were so worried." Rick, obviously annoyed by her jester pushes her away and asks, "Where's Karl and Judith?" Jane drops her hand and tells him, "Well I think Karl went to class and Judith is in the kitchen. Jane grabs his hand and pulls him to the kitchen to see that Judith is fine. "Did you get anything good?" Jane says while washing the dishes. "Ah, yea I got some more powdered and canned pet milk. Jane responded happily, "Good." Jane walks over to Rick then wraps her arms around his neck and whispers, "I will be putting Judith down for a nap in a little while so…so maybe we could…", " Well I am really tired so I am gonna try and get some rest. Rick walks over to Judith and kisses the top of her head then heads upstairs to the bed room.

Rick wakes up a few hours later, gets dressed and hears Judith in the other room talking, "I tat tone, I tat tone." Rick smiles, then walks in to the room and looks at Judith, "What are you talking about?" Rick picks Judith and hugs her tight. Remembering what Michonne said in Elysium about enjoying every moment you encounter cause that is all we have let. Rick kisses Judith on the forehead then looks out the window passed some boared up houses to see Michonne's domicile. "You wanna go see Chonne?" Rick says why looking at Judith. "Alright let me get dressed and we'll see what she's up to. Rick puts Judith back in her playpen then walks out of the room to finish getting dressed.

Jane is standing at the top of the stairs when she hears Rick talking to Judith about going to see Michonne. So Jane goes in to the bedroom and starts to pull out some clothes for Rick. Rick walks in to the bedroom, "You don't have to do that I can get my own clothes", and Rick walks over to her and grabs her hand, "Thank you… for everything." Jane leans up to kiss him but, he turns his head to the side so that her kiss lands on his cheek. "No, thank you for everything, if it wasn't for you and your people…me and my brothers would've been stuck at Terminus forever." Jane tells him. She turns around and starts to open the dresser draws looking for a clean shirt for Rick to put on. "I mean Gareth was sick, but not as sick as his mother Mary." Jane begins to stare at the wall remembering the last time she held her own baby in her arms and how one day Gareth came and took their baby away never to be seen again. Jane turns around and hands Rick the clean shirt. "Well, I am grateful that you looked out for Judith, Tyreese and Carol. And how you lead them to us in that train car for that I am truly grateful." Rick tells her while putting his shirt on. Jane walks up on him, "You can always show me just how much…anytime you want to Rick." Jane tells him seductively. Rick looks Jane in the face then smiles sadly at her because he knows that he needs her to look out for Judith but he wasn't grateful enough to give her what she wanted because what she wanted was him. "Look, I am going to take walk with Judith and I will bring her back a little later." Rick kisses her forehead then starts to put on his shoes.

"Knock; knock…hey guys it's me I'm back from the run." Rick says while smiling and holding Judith's hand. "Karl" Michonne whispers. Karl waves his hand down like he's got the situation under control. Karl opens the front door real quick, steps out and shuts it behind him. Rick looks at him in strangely and says, "What's up with that?" "What's going on? Is Chonne' alright?" Rick questions Karl. Karl suddenly draws a blank, forgetting what the excuse was that Michonne told him to say. Michonne quickly begins to move the couch back against the door. Rick furrows his brow at the noise behind the door then he moves to the left of Karl reaching for the door knob, "She said, she wasn't feeling well about women issues", Karl blurts out. Michonne nearly burst in to tears of laugh over his response. Rick shifts his head back with a questionable look on his face, "What? Oh, you mean she isn't feeling well because of women's issues." Rick corrected him. "Yea, that's what I meant." Karl agrees. "Yea well, I have been meaning to have that conversation with you soon any way. Why don't we take walk?" Rick says. And Rick, Karl and Judith take a nice troll and discuss the birds and the bees.

Rick, Karl and Judith are seating on an old iron park bench in the late morning. Rick just spent the last hour and a half explaining to Karl the facts regarding sex. Karl was speechless, but not for the same reason as Rick thinks. Rick thinks that he is shocked by how intimate the act actually is. But Karl is really shocked because he better understands what Michonne's attackers were trying to do. Karl actually felt sick at the thought of this happening to Michonne. "You alright Karl, I mean all of it can't be that much of shock is it." Rick says while looking at Karl for a facial expression. Karl snaps out of his speechlessness and says, "No, not all of it. Actually it makes sense now with all the bits and pieces that I have heard before. But Dad, where does love fit in to all this?" Karl asks. Rick wasn't prepared for that question, "Well in most cases you would want to… aim for someone that you feel especially connected to. But for men it doesn't always turn out that way. You will see what I mean one day." Rick says while smiling and patting Karl on the back.

For the past few days Karl has been eating breakfast and leaving right out an hour before he is supposed to be at the top of the cul de sac for a few hours of schooling. There were a few kids in the neighborhood he had gotten to know but so far no of them had been through what Karl had in the past year or so. Rick hasn't been seeing him in the morning. Rick is also annoyed that Jane is constantly on him about sex. The last thing Rick wanted was another baby to have to look out for. Rick was never really attracted to Jane she was entirely too young for his taste. Jane couldn't have been more than 25 or 26. She was too anxious to live out that old patterned way that everyone in the world used to live. But for now that old way of living is what Rick really wanted for Judith. He really wanted Judith to have some stability in her life for a little while even if the relationship between him and Jane was just a show for Judith and Karl.

Rick came down stairs in to the kitchen fully dressed and ready to leave out. Judith is sitting in a wooden high chair eating her oatmeal with a plastic toddler spoon. "Hey Judith", Risk says while kissing her on top of her head. "Good morning sleepy head, can I make you some breakfast?" Jane says. Rick was instantly annoyed by Jane's comment. Then she walks over to him and gives him a hug and kisses him on the lips. Rick visibly uncomfortable with kissing her pulls her out of the kiss. "Hey, no I will get something later on our way to the fields." "Hey how early has Karl been leaving out in the morning?" Jane replies, "I would say the minute Judith wakes up. He is fully dressed when I come in to get her. The minute I pick Judith up, his practically closing the front door." "Is there something wrong that I should know about?" Jane looks out of the corner of her eye while wiping Judith's face. "No I am sure there's nothing to worry about. Do you think you could stop by Michonne's and see if she is alright? I haven't seen her around in a few days." Rick asks her. "Sure, me and Judith will go right after breakfast. " Then Jane glances at Rick's face then says, "But I thought I saw her the other day with Sasha going toward the field to kill walkers." "You did?" "Oh, well as long as someone has seen her recently." Rick says with relief. "Look I will catch up with you guys later. Bye Judith." Rick kisses Judith sticky hands full of oatmeal. Rick looks at Judith with a smile, "Mmm, that's good stuff Judith", and then he leaves the house.

"Look, we are gonna have to go out there and start killing the walkers that are just walking in and around the cul de sac. The less there are roaming, the less chances that they will sneak up on us as a herd. We will need to start making teams that can go out there on a regular basis and kill any walkers within a quarter mile around the neighborhood." Sasha says to the group. Daryl shakes his head and says, "Alright, who do we have that can kill them at close range. That's you, me, Rick, Tyreese, Michonne…" Daryl stops in the middle of counting and looks around the group. Daryl sees Rick, Sasha, Bob, Abe, Glen, Maggie Jane's brothers James and Jimmy and a couple of others, "Where the hell in Michonne?" "Karl said she wasn't feeling well, 'woman's issues' he called it." Rick laughs. "But Sasha you saw her a few days ago right, didn't you walk with her to the breach to kill some walkers a few days ago?" Sasha looks at Rick strangely and says, "No I haven't, in fact I went to get her a few days ago and she didn't even let me in the house. She told me through the door that she was having some really bad cramps and that she would be out for a few days…but that was maybe 3 or 4 days ago." "Wait a minute, you mean no one has laid eyes upon Michonne other than Karl for the past 3 or 4 days?" Rick asks the group. Everyone shakes their head no. Rick looks down the block toward Michonne's house and sees Karl leaving her house. "Karl, Karl!" Rick begins to yell while walking toward Karl down the block. Then Daryl grabs Rick arm because he can feel the intensity in his voice. "Rick, let me talk to you for a minute." Daryl says while pulling him a few feet away from the others. "Look before you go getting on Karl just remember if she wanted someone other than Karl to see her then she would've easily sent for someone. Karl maybe carrying something for her and not because of her", Daryl reasons. "You probably have a better chance at finding out about what's going with her just by tripping him up a little. That way he isn't betraying her in the process." Rick looks at Daryl and says, Look you come by my house before sun up. I want you take Karl out on a run to check snares or something. Michonne gave him a spare key. I am going to go over there tomorrow morning around the time he has been leaving out. You just keep him out until the sun is up. You know by me some time." Daryl agrees. "Look Sasha why don't' make some teams and shifts so we can start taking care of this early in the morning. The walkers seem a bit disoriented when the sun starts coming up." Rick says.

Rick is standing on the tiny cement porch with Judith, waiting for Karl to come home from working in the gardens. The sun is starting to set and Rick can feel the intensity building within him about what's going on with Michonne. Rick wants to interrogate Karl but he knows that may cause him to shut down completely. So he decides to approach it casually. Karl walks up the small sidewalk leading to the house, "Hey Dad." Karl says while walking past Rick and Judith. Rick stops Karl and says, "Hey what's up where you going so fast? I wanted to ask you about Michonne and how she's feeling." Karl looks at him in shock that he would ask him that question, "She's…getting better. She told me that she should be up and about any day now." Karl says as a matter of fact. "Well maybe I should go over there and check her out make sure she not sick or has an infection of some sort." Rick replies. "No she usually moves the couch back up against the wall once I leave so she can lay back down without having to get up." "Look I am pretty beat I think I am gonna skip dinner and go to bed, good night Dad." Karl says quickly while walking in to the house. Rick can feel the heat and emotion racing to his face as he watches Karl go inside knowing that he isn't being truthful about what is going on with Michonne.

It's somewhere between night and morning when Rick enters Karl and Judith's room. Rick quietly walks in and begins to search Karl's pants for the key to Michonne's. As Rick pulls the pants pocket inside out he sees a key drop on the floor. Karl wakes a little from hearing the key hit the floor Rick quickly walks over to the key and covers it with his foot. "Karl…Karl, look I need you to go out with Daryl and check the snares." Rick whispers. Karl wakes a little and rubs his eyes and says, "Why?" "Well someone…called out so to speak. And I know that you know how to reset the snares that will make the checking faster." Rick says. Karl agrees and start to put is pants on. Rick puts both his hand on Karl's shoulders and starts leading him out of the room so that he doesn't think to check for the Michonne's spare key.

Rick goes down the steps with Karl to see Daryl waiting in the dark living room. Daryl whispers to Karl and slaps him on the back then says in a whisper, "You awake brother? We got some work to do" Daryl says with a smile looking at Rick to see if the plan is working so far. "We should be back by breakfast", Daryl says to Rick in a low voice. Then Daryl and Karl walk off down the street with James and Jimmy waiting at the end of the block.

Rick closes the door and sits on the futon in the living room worried about what he might see by going in to Michonne's house disguised as Karl. He begins to think that she is a walker and Karl is keeping her trapped in the house like that crazy women he met at the prison while checking for snares. Then Rick starts to think about when he and Michonne spent the night in Elysium. Rick had to laugh to himself a little cause that was exactly what it felt like being there with her it felt like Elysium. Suddenly Rick jumped up and started pacing the tiny living room. "Oh, no, please, please don't let it be that just don't let it be that!" He thinks to himself. Rick quickly runs upstairs and get dressed. "Where are you going so early", Jane says half asleep. "Look I sent Karl out with Daryl to check the snares I gotta go check on something. Bring Judith in here with you after you come and move the couch back against the door. Rick opens the top dresser drawer and pulls out his sheriff's revolver and checks to make sure it's loaded. "Rick what is going on?" Jane says with a little more irritation. "I will be back later, I am going to stop by and check on Michonne", Rick answered. "Again, what does that women have over you that you are always so worried about her all the time?" Jane replied forgetting herself. Rick stops a moment while grabbing his gun belt and says to her, "Do you have a problem with that?" "Rick, I am just saying some people can't adjust to a social setting. Sometimes there past is too painful for them to get over that's all", Jane says while getting out of the bed. She walks up behind Rick and starts rubbing the front of his pants and stroking the back of his hair. "Come back to bed and check on her later. She's not going anywhere." Rick suddenly turns around and looks at Jane confused as to why she would say something so callous. "Look, we will revisit this conversation when I get back, until then come and move the couch back against the door" Rick says in a annoyed tone. "O.K.", Jane says then she kisses him on the lips but Rick pulls away in manner of distaste and walks down the stairs and out the front door.

Rick is sitting on the ground around the side of Michonne's domicile waiting to hear her move the couch for Karl. He sits on the ground and watches the sunlight slowly expand over the night horizon. He can't even recall the last time he really watched a sun rise. Rick closed his eyes and tried to soak in this moment, the moment of uncertainty. In a few moments he was about to find out if Michonne was walker or if she was pregnant in the next few moments. He knew his life was going to make a dramatic shift again and he was afraid that he may not be ready for it. He opened his eyes trying to get ready to accept whatever was behind Michonne's door. He decided that if he heard the couch being moved then she was probably pregnant. The thought of Michonne being pregnant gave Rick a feeling of fear. How would he provide for another baby when the first one can't even fend for herself, But Rick knew if she was pregnant she would have to have a healthy pregnancy; cause if the fetus died Michonne would die..

While Rick was having a rush of all these uncertainties he hears Michonne moving the couch away from the door. Rick stood up and glanced at the last remnants of night being pushed away by the sun. He pulls the key out of his pocket and looks at it for a moment then he walks up to the door and unlocks it, walks in the door and looks around the small living then slowly closes the door. The deputy sheriff in him notices that someone tried to clean up the stains of blood on the floor,couch and stairs.

Michonne was in the kitchen when she hears the door shut, 'Hey Karl what are you doing here so early? Is everybody alright?" Michonne says. Just as she walks toward the kitchen entrance she is looking down at a canister of oatmeal trying to open it. "Ouch, ouch, Karl I need you to open this oatmeal again my ribs are still too…" just as Michonne looks up from the canister standing in the kitchen entrance she sees Rick standing there looking at her in complete shock and disbelief at what he sees.


	4. Chapter 4 Don't go looking for trouble

Chapter 4: Don't go looking for trouble

Rick can see that her face has been healing for the past few days and the swelling has gone down, and he sees the bandage on her right cheek bone. Then Rick looks down and sees Michonne in a partially ripped shirt exposing the bandages on ribs. He sees a dark blue and purple bruise protruding above and below the bandage around her ribs. He puts one hand on his hip then rubs his eyes with the other handinfuriated and annoyed by what he is observing.

Rick starts to get a waning feeling of sadness his stomach and his chest begins to surge with rage. His first inclination is to throw the couch across the room he's so angry. Instead he decides to play cop and tries to remain as objective as he can about what he is seeing. "Michonne who did this to you, why didn't you tell me about this?" Rick says calmly.

Michonne startled by his appearance turns around and goes back in to the kitchen. Rick immediately runs in the kitchen behind her then grabs her arm and turns her around, "Michonne who did this to you?" She is without words, she can't bring herself to tell him who did this or why this happened because she didn't know. Suddenly Michonne puts the oatmeal down on the small countertop and starts to quickly limp upstairs and says, "I can't do this right now Rick, I…I'm not ready to do this right now." Rick starts walking up the stairs after her and says, "What? What the hell do you mean you can't talk about this right now", "What the hell happened to your face and your ribs, Michonne?!"

Michonne gets upstairs and sits on the bed. Rick walks in the bedroom and slams the door shut. She jumps a little when he slams the bedroom door, because she realizes just how weakened she has become since the attack. His yelling and slamming doors is causing her to feel even more exposed because she can't protect herself at the moment and she can't calm him down because she is too frightened.

Once Rick slams the bedroom door shut he notices Michonne jump at the sound of the door slamming. He catches himself then slowly walks to the other side of the room to calm down before saying anything else. He sits on the floor against wall and says to Michonne quietly, "When did this happen?" "The night you and the group went out." "Look," Michonne says getting up, I'm really tired and I need to lie down", She starts walking to the bedroom door and opens it signaling Rick to go. He gets up off the floor and walks over to the bedroom door and shuts it again causing her to step a few feet away from him. He looks at her with offended eyes, "are you scared of me Chonne'?" Rick remembers dealing with domestic violence and rape victims while being a deputy sheriff. And how fragile they tend to be days after the fact, but he never imagined Michonne feeling this way, he always saw her as a warrior. He walks up to her slowly and says again softly, "Are you afraid of me?" He walks a little bit closer to her with his hands slightly up in the air, "Are you?" Michonne can see the change in his demeanor and says, "No. I am afraid of what you might do." 'To you", Rick's voice start to get a bit louder. "No, about what you may do out there. We need this place Rick. Karl and Judith need this place its stable, we can't keep running with a baby in the wild. She doesn't understand." "So you would rather not tell me at all? Does Karl…Shit! That's why Karl reacted the way he did when I had the talk with him." Rick says under his breath. "Look I was gonna tell you once I was healed up. Once I am recovered I will take care of this myself." She says. "So you would risk the other women out there being attacked?" He says. "No… they were waiting for me, they knew which way I went home from the neighborhood announcements." "I started to walk in between the two boarded up houses and that's when they grabbed me. Karl came back over and saw them ripping…" Michonne stops going in to detail as it is bringing up to many memories that she hasn't decided to deal with yet. "Karl was there? He saw what happened?" Rick says while increasing the volume on his voice. Michonne quietly walks to the opposite side of the room from Rick. In her mind she knows Rick would never do such a thing but, she had to admit to herself that after Elysium she isn't sure what to think about Rick.

Rick lets out a big sigh then walks over to Michonne and says, 'Well let me check your ribs and make sure the bandage is tight?" Michonne steps back away from Ricks approach. "No, I am good it's pretty tight." She says. He looks at her with grief in his eyes, "Michonne, I would never…please you know me better than that", Rick pleads. "I know I just feel real…I am just not myself right now. And I need some time to regain or…repair what I lost that night." She tells him.

Rick begins to back away slowly with his hand slightly in the air again. "O.k, o.k., would it be alright if I sent Bob and Sasha over to check out you injuries", Rick says while backing up toward the bedroom door. But Michonne doesn't respond. "How about if I just send Sasha over and I won't tell her anything. I will just tell her that you need to speak with her in confidence, alright?" Michonne nods her head yes, then turns her back on Rick. "Listen, I know you may not want this but, while you are like this I can't leave you alone by yourself for a while. I know this won't come out right but, I don't feel comfortable with you being here alone if you are unable to fight. So I will be back before it gets dark, I will stay down stairs on the couch and you can lock the bedroom door. But if I can't do that then I have to find someone who will." "So I will be back later on and in the meantime I will ask Sasha to stop by alright?" Rick is saying this as he backs out of the bedroom. Right before he shuts the door. "Is that a yes?" Rick asks. She shakes her head yes and raises her hand to leave her alone.

Sasha comes out of Michonne's house and she sees Bob walking toward her then as she starts to walk up the block she hears, "Sasha, Sasha…", Rick yells while doing a light jog up to her. "How is she" Ricks says while facing in the opposite direction of her. Sasha looks up the block as Bob is coming down the block then she says, "She's pretty banged up. She wouldn't remove the bandages from her ribs but…The color of that bruise doesn't look good. As I was trying and dress the bandage on her eye I could feel her skin and she's really warm. I gave her some Motrin and antibiotics to stop the infection?" "What infection", he says. "Rick?" Sasha say raising her voice a little, "Any infection. She wouldn't take the bandages off her ribs; she wouldn't let me examine her. Are you really surprised?" "She has been taking care of herself for a while. But…I think I know what happened." "Look, she's not gonna talk about it until she wants to Rick." "We'll just have to wait to see if she ever does." Sasha shrugs her shoulder.

Hey, so what's up with Chonne'? How she doing", Bob says while walking toward Rick and Sasha. "She's good, she said it happens every few months or years", Sasha reassures Bob. "Did she have a fever, is vomiting?" "Chill, army medic, I was firemen and a E.M.T. I know how to examine." Sasha says with a laugh. "I gave her about 800 mg of Motrin, so she is about to go to sleep which is exactly what she needs. Come on" Sasha wraps one of her arms around Bob's shoulder, then mouths to Rick that she will come back tomorrow afternoon then starts walking up the block with Bob.

Rick, Jane, Karl and Judith are sitting at a tiny kitchenette eating plain baked potatoes and carrots. No one was speaking but Judith. "I tat tone, I tat tone", Judith says while banging her carrots on her plate. Rick is just staring in to his plate pushing his food around. Karl keeps eating little bites of food while glancing at his father angrily. Karl knows that he stole Michonne's spare key from him. Karl went by Michonne's after coming back with Daryl that morning, she told him that Rick was there earlier and he has already seen her. But she still wants him to come by and see her every day. Jane just sits with a smile on her face taking tiny bits off her plate then looks at Rick, "So how is Michonne Rick? Did you get a chance to see her?" "Rick?' He snaps out of his stare then looks up at her, "What?" "How's Michonne doing?" "Oh, she's…under the weather, she'll be alright", he says. "Good, I was thinking that we should all go for a walk tomorrow before the neighborhood announcements. We haven't spent any time as a family." Jane's ability to block out the gloominess in this tiny kitchen space was eerie and very unwanted. "I'm full", I'm going to bed. Karl grunts while pushing out his seat. "Karl wait, I want to talk to you for minute," Rick pushes his chair out and leaves the table. Jane looks at Judith with a smile as Judith says again, "I tat tone."

Rick stops Karl before going up the stairs and puts his hand on his should, "Look, I'm not mad…" "Well, I am", Karl whispers angrily. "First you weren't there to help her, and then you steal my key to her house. I was taking care of her. Just like I take care of Jane and Judith, Michonne is nearly two blocks away by herself. She needs to be here under the same roof as us." "Karl", Rick laughs a bit then whispers, "There is barely enough room for the four of us let alone a fifth person." "Then maybe you need to get rid of the newcomer." Karl turns around and run upstairs.

Rick follows behind him a few seconds later and walks in to his room and shuts the bedroom door. "Karl, I am sorry I stole your key but I knew you wouldn't give it to me. And I am glad you were there to help Michonne a few nights ago. Your right, I should've been there. But, I will be there for her from now on... or as much as she will let me. Now, I will be staying there over night until she is recovered enough to fight again…", Karl walks over to his bed and sits down then looks up at Rick, "Then what? Go back to leaving her alone by herself with walkers a few feet away and some crazy rapists up the block. Who is gonna have her back? Karl says. If she can't stay with us once she is better… then I will go live with her. You stay her with Jane and Judith." Rick stands puzzled at how the conversation has gone so far, "Look, it'll be a week or two that I'll be over there in the meantime, you keep Judith and Jane safe at night. We will revisit this discussion at a later time." Karl shakes his head at his father, "Kids and adults really see things differently. You know I'm right, you know she needs to be here with us… the three of us."

Ricks turns around and leaves Karl's room, just as he closes Karl's bedroom door Jane is coming toward the bathroom to give Judith a bath. Rick walks over to Judith in Jane's arm and kisses Judith's head but doesn't kiss Jane. "Listen, something happened a few nights ago with Michonne and she's been injured…" "Is that where Karl has been going early in the morning?" Jane interrupts. "Yea, so I am gonna be staying there until she is well enough to take care of herself again." "Of course, I know how much she means to you and Karl. Go we will be fine. I will make sure that my James or Jimmy stops by to check on us before we lockup." Jane says lovingly. This act of concern for Michonne felt odd considering what she said earlier that day. But he had no time to really read in to it because he needed to get to Michonne's house before it gets dark. Rick places his hand on her shoulderand says, "Thanks I'll stop by once the sun is up."

Just as Rick hears Jane push the couch against the door he looks up the block as the evening settles on the neighborhood. No one is out on the street. At first glance it looks like any other neighborhood before the outbreak. Rick walks up and across the street to where Michonne was attacked. As he walks over to the entrance between the two houses he sees a light. Rick pulls out his gun and his flashlight and just as he is about to flash his light Daryl has his crossbow aimed and ready. "Rick, a little slow on draw there chief?" Daryl says while lowering his crossbow. "I was just checking out the scene of the crime." "Find anything", Rick asks. "Na' it's been a few days, besides tracking ain't easy and it's damn near impossible to do in the dark." Daryl tells him. "Well, we can't get out here during the day it'll stir up too much attention." "Look, I will be staying over there at night until she can defend herself again." Rick says. "Oh. Well just let me know if you need a break or something." Daryl reminds him. "You'll be the first to know, brother." Rick tells him.

Rick knocks on Michonne's door, "It's Rick." Michonne opens the door, looks at Rick then shakes her head and walks toward the stairs, 'I don't like this Rick. I don't need a babysitter." She snaps at him. Rick walks in and closes the door, well prepared for this sort of response to him being there. "Well as soon as you let someone take a look under all those bandages to see that your healing properly we are gonna be roommates."

Rick pushes the couch against the front door then checks the knot on the door in the kitchen. He decides to go upstairs before going to sleep. He uses his flashlight to navigate the stairs leading to Michonne bedroom. As he gets to the top of the steps he sees that that her bedroom door is open. "Knock, knock?" Rick says jokingly. As he slowly pushes the door open wider he sees her pulling out a t-shirt and some pajama pants. "You alright, for the night?" he asks. She remembers the hurt look he gave her when he asked if she was afraid of him earlier that day. She didn't want Rick to think that she was. So reluctantly, she says, "I could use some help putting this stuff on." Rick didn't give away how pleased he was to see that he was able to approach her again. Without hesitation he rushed in and put his flashlight face up on the dresser, "Sure."

Michonne leans against the wall and Rick begins to gently pull down the beat up sweat pants so she can step out of them. Rick can smell the hint of rosewater and olive oil permeating from her soft legs. Rick almost got lost in the action of pulling her pants down when he sees a long piece of blood stained gauze taped on the upper part of her inner thigh. He slightly rubs his hand against the gauze then looks up at Michonne and he can see her head is turned up so that he can't see her face but, can he clearly see the little streams of water rolling down her face. He looks back at the gauze and lightly lifts up the tape. He can see it a pretty deep cut and it really needs stitches, instead Rick gets up, goes in the bathroom and grabs the vinegar and a wash cloth, he comes back in to the room and kneels down again. He takes the wash cloth and holds it as the bottom on the gash against her leg, and then he begins to pours some vinegar on the wound. Michonne, groans with her mouth shut tight. Rick gets more gauze and tape from the dresser then redresses the wound.

Rick grabs the pajama pants off the bed and motions to her to step out of sweat pants and in to the pajama pants. He pulls the pants up to her waist then ties the straw string in a bow while looking at her from the side. Just as he starts to lift her shirt Michonne raises her arms and winces from the pain in her ribs, he pulls the shirt over her head and he looks at her face but, she can't look him in the eye. "Michonne, look at me", Rick says softly. Then he touches her chin and turns her face toward his. They hadn't been this close since Elysium. Just when Michonne looks Rick in those deep blue eyes she sees that his eyes are full of tears too. "I am so sorry this happened to you." Instantly, Michonne covers her face with her hands and starts to cry uncontrollably. Rick wraps his arms around her squeezing her as hard as he could then slowly strokes are back. Michonne extends both her hands and wraps them around Rick's waist burying her face in his chest while continuing to cry. Michonne had no idea that she was this damaged and fragile from the attack. However, when Rick embraced her she quickly felt safer, safe enough to cry. Although, she hadn't expressed any emotional breakdown from the attack before, she had no idea that it would hit her like this or this fast. He hugs her back whispering in her ear, "I am so sorry sweetheart, this shouldn't have happened to you." Rick whispers in her ear. He continues to rub her back while holding her tighter and she keeps crying as if she has been waiting to cry for the past couple of years.

Michonne began to grow weaker from this outpour of emotion, so Rick slowly moves her over to the bed and they sat down on the bed, Michonne still unable to let him go. Rick was a little relieved that she broke down in front of him but, he kept feeling waves of fury rise within him over the fact that this happened.

Rick grabs the old top she had on then leaned her up a little to wipe her face and to blow her nose, "Here blow." Michonne blew her nose in the old shirt then sits up wiping her face. As she began to calm down her sobs she lets out a big sigh, "I am sorry, I don't know what came over me just now. That was the one thing that I was trying to avoid." She says. "Michonne, I would worry about your mental state if you hadn't. Given the times we are in…you have got to find a way to get rid of the pent up emotions. Especially from something like this," He tells her. "I understand why you wouldn't want to tell me Chonne' but it's unfair for you to assume that I would lose it to the point of losing our sanctuary." Michonne looks at Rick, "If I would've told you what happened the minute you came back from the run…could you honestly say that you wouldn't have gone on a rampage to find out who did this? I mean Daryl, Glenn, Tyreese, any of you would have caused a shit storm in this survivor community over this… over me", Michonne gets up from the bed and grab the clean shirt she pulled out earlier. Then she motions to Rick for his help putting the clean shirt on. Rick gets up off the bed to help, "Why are you constantly excluding yourself from being important to our group? You know that everyone cares about you." He pulls the clean shirt down over her head and arms.

Michonne walks back over to the bed and sits down again, "Rick, I am not going to let the group jeopardize their safety over me. I will heal and take care of this myself, I don't want Karl and Judith out there exposed to that craziness. Every time Judith starts to cry or gets irritated because she sleepy she puts everyone at risk. And she can't help that because she is still a baby. This is the safest place for them right now. For everybody right now…no one person is more important than the group, right?" Michonne says looking up at Rick. Rick is silent for a moment, "Wrong. Not when one of our members gets hurt from an outsider", Rick says while walking over towards her. He kneels down in front of Michonne on the bed and holds her hands. "But Rick…our group is considered the 'outsiders' here," Michonne touches Ricks face and gives him a melancholy smile.

Rick stands up in a huff, grabs his flashlight and heads toward the bedroom door, "Michonne…we all care about you", Rick turns around and looks at her, "I care about you. You can't stop me from finding out who is responsible for doing this to you. And when I do I will try to remember this conversation but…", Rick shakes his head, "…the way I feel right now…I just can't make any promises regarding my actions when I find out.

Michonne walks over to Rick and says, "I have felt that way once before, I went looking for revenge. I went looking for trouble but, what I learned was that once you decided to go looking for trouble you never find it…it always finds you. And when it finds you it constantly causes a lot more damage than you expected to. So if you find the cowards before I do, just try to remember that part of tonight's conversation, alright?" Ricks shakes his head yes then closes the bedroom door.


	5. Chapter 5

"Goodnight Judith", Jane says while putting her in the play pen. Jane walks over to Karl's bed and sits down. "Hey Karl, are you alright? I had no idea that you were tending to Michonne these past few mornings. How is she doing?" Karl looks at Jane, "She will be alright." He says while turning his back to her. Jane begins to walk toward the bedroom door, "Well I know she will be just fine, she's a strong woman, so as long as you and your Dad are around to protect her she will be good in no time, goodnight."

Jane goes downstairs to push the couch against the front door for security when she suddenly hears tapping at the back door. She immediately grabs the aluminum bat in the corner behind the front door then she slowly walks toward the kitchen.

Every now and then a walker somehow makes it way in to the neighborhood without detection. This has been a reoccurring problem and the neighborhood is constantly trying to come up with ideas on how to prevent these security breaches. Jane reaches the kitchen and she can see that the back door is secure but someone or something is turning the door knob. She gets a little closer to the door to see if she can hear any heavy breathing, "Jane it's me. It's James." Jane relived that it's her brother and unties the knot and lets him in. "Why are you coming around the back door? Everyone knows who you are ", Jane whispers, "It's dark out here I don't want to get jumped by walkers or anybody else for that matter", James says while closing the door behind. He sits down at the kitchenette with Jane.

Everything alright here, where's Rick and Karl?" James asks her "Rick is across the way and Karl has gone to bed." She answers. "How are you doing?" he asks. Jane holds her index finger up to her lip and motions for James to stay put. She walks up stairs to see if Karl and Judith are asleep then she leaves their room to come back down stairs in to the kitchen. She walks over to the kitchen sink and starts to stare out the window at the blackness in the tiny backyard, "You know when my so called mother in law, 'Mary that evil whore,' made that decision to…make use of anybody under sixteen…I knew what I had to do to keep you and Jimmy safe. Over and over again I made myself available to Gareth." Jane grabs a bottle of warm water on the kitchen counter and takes a sip. "I have saved the lives of my brothers three times already. Twice, with my own flesh and blood, the two of you owe me."

"I know that, I don't have to tell you how important this is to me. After Terminus…you owe me. I will never let either one of you go if the two of you don't get this done for me." James tiredly places his elbows on the table closes his eyes and cradles is head in his hands, "I know Jane, I know", James says wearily as his voice gets a little louder. "You know we are your brothers and we love you," James lifts his head and looks up at Jane to see that she is holding her arm up over her head looking at something near her underarm. He gets up and walks over to her, "Janie you have to believe us, Gareth told us that…", just as James walks over to her, he sees that she is making long dash like cuts right beneath her under arm with a utility camping knife. James grabs the camping tool away from her then slams it on to the counter. He grabs both of her arms and shakes her, "Please, please…hold on Jane", he whispers then gives her a big hug. But she doesn't hug back; she is in a catatonic state from having to remember her life while at Terminus. "We will make this right Janie, I promise me and Jimmy will make this right." He reassures her. James releases her and begins to walks to the back door making sure the knot is good and tight. As he walks toward the kitchen entrance he stops, "Look Jane, I had better get going". Then he moves the couch enough to open the front, "I will see you and Judith tomorrow." James begins to walking away navigating the walkway with his flashlight.

Karl is watching James from his window as he leaves their front porch. Karl can hear Jane moving the couch back against the front door. Right before he releases the curtain to go back to bed he sees Daryl coming from between the two boarded house where Michonne was attacked. He watches as Daryl walks over to James, after a few minutes he sees Daryl walking toward the gate. Daryl told Karl earlier that morning that it was his turn to keep watch tonight. He lets go of the curtain and goes back to bed.

Michonne wakes up exhausted from yesterdays and last night's events. Slowly she rises up from her bed, her eyes clinching together from the pain in her ribs. As she manages to stand up she goes in the bathroom to washing her face and checks the cut on her cheek then walks down stairs. She finds Rick laid out on the couch sleep. Michonne tilts her head a little so that her face is facing in is the same directions as his. With a tiny smile and furrow of her brows she shakes her head a little. To her, it seemed ridiculous to have this man sleep on the couch instead of in the bed with her after the Elysium incident. But she couldn't afford to assume that Rick's actions last night wasn't anything more than deep concern for a member of the group.

"Rick, Rick? ", Michonne says in a hurrying tone. Rick lifts his head up off of the couch arm rest and groans from the crick in his neck. He rubs his neck then grumbles, "I had better bring a pillow tonight." "Why didn't you just come and ask me for a pillow," she questioned sitting down next to him. "Turn around", she gently instructions him.

Michonne begins to softly massage Rick's cramped neck and shoulder. As she presses in to his muscles iHe begins to whine, "Ouch!" "Oh, I am sorry is that too hard," Michonne chuckled. "No no…it feels good. I needed someone to break up that tension." He says appreciatively.

Michonne feeling slightly offended at the "somebody" remark, pats Rick on the shoulder and cheerfully says, "See all better." Just before she removes one of her hands Rick grabs it and turns around, "Hold on… let me check that cut on your face?" Michonne started to feel a burst of flutters in her stomach being face to face with Rick. So she quickly responds, "No no, I checked it this morning," when she goes to get up Rick again stops her from moving and tenderly says, "Just let me check Chonne, amuse me."

Rick removes one hand from hers and starts to lift up the bandage on her face. Michonne twitches her cheek a little as he lifts the tape. Rick pretends to look at her wound but he starts to smell the rosewater and olive oil on her skin. He looks Michonne in the eyes then at her full lips. Rick softly kisses her, as if it was a test to see if his kiss is wanted. Once Michonne begins to return the jester she pulls out of the lip lock and gets up off the couch. Rick gets up and walks over to Michonne and softly holds her face. Michonne feels the flutters again but this time she also feels the heavy pulsating of her clitoris.

Rick softly gives her a soft quick kiss and whispers, "No regrets, right?" then they lip embrace harder this time. Ricks manhood is getting longer and stiffer while Michonne's little man begins to drown in a river bed of her juices. Rick places his hand in the lower middle of her back while massaging the crotch of her pajama pants. And just when Rick is about to untie the draw string on her pants they hear Karl's key opening the door.

"Michonne it's me. You forgot to move the couch for me", Karl says through a slight opening in the door. Immediately Rick and Michonne stop their all so sudden foreplay.

"Ah…,hold on," Rick says in a rush. Rick starts to move the couch, the minute Karl can squeeze through the door he comes in then stops and stares at Rick quickly then looks at Michonne. Karl closes the door behind him gradually looking at his father on one side of the couch and again at Michonne. He can see that the both of them have beads of sweat on their forehead and are flushed in the face.

Michonne at first, bites the bottom corner of her lip then breaks the silence by blurting out, "Hey Karl, right on time. You want some cereal or oatmeal?" Michonne turns and anxiously walks in to the kitchen. Karl then looks at Rick and sees he is noticeably uneasy as well. Karl squints his eyes at his dad and with a tiny smirk on his face and says, "Hey Dad". Rick awkwardly smiles then says, "Hey son", while putting his hands on Karl's shoulders walking him in to the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

Rick walks in to the kitchen entrance and watches Michonne take out a few bowls and the same canister of oatmeal from yesterday morning. "Ah… wait", Rick says while walking toward her, "Let me open that for you." Michonne hands the canister to Rick then grabs a pot out of the dish drain and she pours two bottles of water in to the pot, As Michonne lights the burner Karl asks, "How are you feeling?" "Tired…but alright I guess", she answered.

Rick sits down at card table in the kitchen, "Michonne that gash on your leg needs stitches and as soon as possible. Your leg won't heal right." Michonne looks at the bowl as she fills one with dry oatmeal, "Do want some oatmeal?" she asks. "Yea, I could eat," Rick says. "I was asking Karl" Michonne says while smiling at Karl. "But I can make some for you too."

The three of them sit down at the card table and begin to eat in silence. The room feels bizarre because this is the first time Rick, Michonne and Karl are sitting together eating breakfast…like a family. Out of the awkward silence Rick announces, "So we are gonna start going out in teams to kill walkers on the perimeter of the neighborhood to avoid them gathering in herds. If we go at them like that we stand a chance at protecting the neighborhood." Rick looks at the both them with a bit of confusion because neither one says anything. Michonne and Karl glance at each other with raised brows by Rick's announcement then they continue eating. Rick didn't know that the last thing Michonne and Karl would talk about in the mornings was the outside world.

Michonne breaks the quiet by saying, "O.k. Karl whatcha got for me today? I got good one for you." Rick smiles and looks at Karl a curiously. Karl smiles then says, "Alright, amusement parks." "Hmmm, yea I kinda miss them a lot too," she says in agreement, "But mine's is still better." Rick smiles at Michonne while waiting to see what she misses. "Saturday morning cartoons", "Aww come on…" Karl laughs in a defeated tone,"…yea yours is better." Karl says. "See I told you." Michonne says, and then she turns to Rick, "What about you, something that you miss from the old world?" "Who me…" Rick says surprised that they want him to play the game too. "Well now let me see…" "And it has to be something that everyone in this room can enjoy. You know, it can't be something like beer or something only grownups can do", Karl chimed in. "Oh o.k." Rick laughed. "How about…sports. Particularly football, but I would say sports. Baseball, basketball the Olympics…all of it," Rick says. As Rick leans back in the chair waiting to see if his answer will surpass Michonne's. Michonne looks at Rick with squinted eyes and wrinkles her nose a bit then she looks at Karl. Karl starts smiling and shaking his head now in agreement with his father. Michonne presses her lips together, "Yea, o.k. that one is better." Rick nodes his head in agreement then does a hi-five with Karl. "Yea I do miss the Olympics. I had a chance to be in the 1996 Olympics." Michonne tells them.

Rick and Karl sit up in their chairs eagerly waiting for more details. "Doing what?" Karl asks. "Fencing", she tells them. "Really, what happened?" Rick asks with curiosity. Now, Michonne leans back in her chair, "Well, I was on the fencing team in college and I was chosen to compete for a spot on the Olympic team. I made it on to the Olympic team…but my husband, well my fiancé' at the time didn't believe women knew anything about sports and that women shouldn't even be in the Olympics. So after he told me that it would be too embarrassing for him to have a fiancé' on the Olympic fencing team I…quit."

Rick and Karl are stunned that Michonne would allow anyone especially a man dictate what she could and couldn't do. Michonne shrugs her shoulders, looks down at the table and sighs, "I was a different person back then." Karl is still curious about Michonne's past so he asks, "Did you marry him?" Michonne begins to push away from the table and says, "Yea, we did. But we ended up getting a divorce later when I wanted to finish getting my law degree. When I look back on it he didn't like the fact that I had a…strong spirit. He didn't want a soulmate he wanted a subordinate."

Rick is quiet while Michonne tells this story from her past, for some reason her story gave Rick a better understanding of why she was loner. Michonne was strong and clearly she was too strong for some men. For the current reality that they were in that type of strength in a woman was a necessity if she wanted to survive.

Michonne gets up from the table and collects everyone's bowl and walks over to the kitchen sink. Rick decides to change the subject, "So Karl did everything go alright last night?" Karl looks away from Michonne and looks at his father and says, "Yea, I guess. Jane's brother stopped by after Judith and I went to sleep. But it was a little weird though…because they kept whispering…" As Michonne looks out of the kitchen window she sees a 15-20 walkers coming toward the chicken and barb wire lined along the small backyard. The chicken wire had old chicken soup cans tied to it so it can wake people at night in case walkers come around. "Walkers!" she says out loud. Rick quickly jumps up and looks out the window. "Shit! Once they hit that chicken wire they are gonna alert walkers from every." Rick and Karl run to the front door then Rick tells Karl, "Look get over to the house and tell Jane to take Judith and hide in the bedroom. Once you do that round up everybody that can kill walkers up close we need to kill them with as little noise as possible." Karl shakes his head in agreement and says, "What about Michonne?" Rick says in a hurry, "She will be alright if she stays in the house. Now go hurry up."

Michonne comes out of the kitchen and says to Rick, "I'm coming, let me get my sword!" Rick was irritated that she would even think to come out while still recovering from her attach earlier in the week. Rick stands in the front doorway and says, "Please Michonne don't do this, now. I know you are strong but you can't fight right now. Please stay in the house and let us handle this one." "What? I'm coming out there to help you." She says loudly. "No you're not! If you come out there I'll be distracted with if you are alright instead of killing walkers. Please do this for me. Stay in the house please?" Rick says while quickly grabbing the machete behind the front door then closes it leaving Michonne standing in shock because she knew that he was right. She couldn't fight right now. In order to use a sword she would have to use every part of body that was actually injured. So she resentfully moves the couch against the front door then she starts hearing the tin can alarm coming from the chicken wire.

Karl starts running across the street toward the house and yells out, "Walkers, walkers!" Daryl was waiting for the next team to take over the watch of the neighborhood entrance when he heard Karl yelling. "Where," Daryl yelled. "Coming toward Michonne's backyard", Karl yells back. My Dad wants everyone that can kill up close so there isn't a lot of noise that will attract others.

Jane opens the door holding Judith hand about to come out of the house. "Jane go back in the house there are walkers coming toward Michonne's backyard! Go upstairs and lock yourself in the bedroom." Karl yells out. Jane shakes her and quickly closes the door while Karl starts running up the block to round up some more people to help with walkers when he hears the noise of the clanging tins cans coming from down the block.


	7. Chapter 7

Karl keeps running up the up the block screaming, "Walkers are breaching the perimeter" alerting Ricks group from Terminus and other survivors in the neighborhood. As soon as Tyreese hears Karl yelling, he comes to the door of his house and shouts out to Karl, "Where?" "In Michonne's backyard, my Dad wants anyone that can kill them up close so there isn't a lot of noise. Gather up who you can", Karl adds as he turns around to go back down the block.

Tyreese runs back inside to grab his hammer, "Carol we got walkers down by Michonne's, Rick needs everyone that can kill'em up close, "he shouts out while grabbing his jacket. Carol spurts out of the kitchen with her barbed wire tipped lead pipe then she runs out of the front door slamming it behind her.

Glenn and Maggie run out and see's their group going down the block toward Michonne's place. Glenn observes Eugene racing down the block too. Glenn glances over at Maggie peculiarly because Eugene doesn't join in when battling walkers at close range in fact, Eugene doesn't slay walkers at all because he is too much of a coward. Ever since Rick blew holes in his disguise of being a governmental scientist he has been looked upon by everyone as being a very weak and pitiful addition to the group.

"Eugene, what the hell are you doing?" Glenn questions him while running downing the block. "Oh…I heard you guys were down a fighter", Eugene replies out of breath, Glenn looks at Maggie while running then glances back at Eugene, "What?!" Eugene begins to get winded and slows down, "Michonne was attacked the other night" he's yells while trying to catch his breath.

Maggie and Glenn reach the weapons barrel at the same time as Jane's younger brother Jimmy. "Jimmy, did Janie say anything to you about Michonne being attacked? Maggie says out breath while grabbing a long handle camp axe out of the barrel. Jimmy catches his breath from running down the block and grabs the cold steel trail boss out of the cart nervously then shakes his head no. Maggie turns to Glenn, "What is Eugene talking about; I thought she was just sick!" Glenn snatches a brush axe then starts running to the other side of the cul de sac, "Come on!"

Just as Michonne hurries upstairs to the bedroom she can hear the clanging noises of all those tin cans along the fence. She hastily limps in to the bedroom and looks out the window. She can see Rick, Daryl, Carol and Tyreese exterminating walkers that have made it pass the chicken wire in to the yard. Right before Michonne turns around to change clothes she sees Glenn, Maggie and Jimmy racing toward the opposite end of the yard.

Michonne tries to change clothes as fast she can, but needs to lean her hand against the bedroom wall to give her some support while she slips in to her boots standing up, "Grrrr," she moans under her breath from her sore ribs. Once she is dressed she grabs her sword then right before she is about to leave to go help she decides to look out the window one more time. She looks out the window and she sees, Bob, Eugene, Sasha, James, Tara and a few other elderly survivors that were already living in the neighborhood before Rick's group came there for sanctuary. She takes the binoculars and tries to look past the yard and the chicken wire fence but, the morning sun is much too bright. Once she focuses the binoculars she can sees the knee high green grassy fields, then two walkers come in to her view. She pans right and sees a few more. They are being drawn in by the noise of the tin cans. Something that the survivors of the neighborhood thought would be an advance warning system has now turned in to a dinner bell.

As Daryl kills walkers with a fire poker the rising morning sun is blinding him a bit however, he can see something other than the tall grass moving in the fields beyond the yard. He spots the same walkers Michonne sees from her bedroom window. "Rick, were getting more of them we gotta stop the noise coming from these tin cans!" "Stop the cans from making noise there bringing in more walkers", Daryl hollers out.

Rick looks up briefly and see's at least another 25 to 30 walkers coming toward them from the grassy fields being drawn in by the noise of the tin cans. So with his machete he begins to kill walkers and break up the tin cans clanging together attracting walkers. Soon everyone is trying to stop the noise and kill the walkers.

Michonne can see that they are starting to make head way with the walkers in the yard through her binoculars. She looks up and sees Tara in the far left corner of the yard killing walkers with a pix axe. Michonne looks up beyond the yard and sees James, Jimmy and Eugene heading out to the field to kill the gathering walkers. She sees Tara running up towards them as well to help with the walkers. Michonne scans across the field again and she can see that the walkers in the field are moving faster and bunching up.

James starts to kill the field walkers when he sees Eugene and Jimmy to the right of him killing walkers too. He turns back around to kill two more field walkers when he hears Eugene scream. James turns around he sees Eugene being attacked by three walkers. James looks at Jimmy because he knows that Jimmy could've killed at least two of those walkers before they got Eugene. "Jim what are you doing!" James screams. "He told Glenn and Maggie about the attack on Michonne", Jimmy yells out.

Just as Tara catches up with James, Jimmy and Eugene she sees Jimmy take his trail boss and chops in to Eugene's leg. Tara hollers, "Nooo!" When she catches up to Jimmy she begins to scream at him, "What the hell are you doing!" Tara looks down and sees Eugene being eaten alive by the walkers. Before she is able to say another word James comes up behind her and whacks her in the back with his aluminum bat thrusting her on to the same walkers that were tearing in to Eugene's flesh.

Michonne is having a hard time keeping James, Jimmy and Eugene in focus due to the tall bladed grass. Suddenly she sees Jimmy swing his trail boss low right next Eugene then she sees Eugene fall. Michonne gasps in horror, then from her binoculars she sees Tara running up to Jimmy yelling at him. Just when Michonne tries to pan out to get a wider view she no longer sees Tara yelling at Jimmy in fact she doesn't see Tara at all however, she can hear her screaming. The only people she sees now are James and Jimmy killing walkers.

Rick, Daryl, Tyreese and Carol start heading to the right of the field beyond the yard. The field walkers are clustering up. Rick Daryl and Tyreese go after the largest cluster while Carol picks off the lone walkers with her lead pipe. She starts veering off further to the right when she sees that Rick, Daryl and Tyreese about to get surrounded. So she runs back to help them. Some of the walkers behind the three that they thought were killed with one blow to the skull aren't quiet dead. When Carol reaches up to the three of them she sees a walker coming up behind Daryl. With all her strength she races up to the walker that is about to catch Daryl off guard she screams out, "Noo, Daryl look out!", and bludgeons the walker in the head. Carol is so relieved that she stopped the walker from getting Daryl that she forgets about the other walkers that the three thought they killed.

Daryl turns around after hearing Carol call his name. When he turns around one of the walkers he thought he had killed comes up behind Carol and rips out a piece of her shoulder. "Carol!" Daryl hollers. Then he runs back to Carol and kills the walker dead then picks Carol up and carries her back to yard.

Tyreese and Rick hear Carol screaming, they turn around and see that Carol has been beaten. "Carol!" Rick yells. "Nooo, Carol!" Tyreese screams. Both men see Daryl kill the walker that attacked Carol, and then they see him carrying her back to the yard. As much as Rick and Tyreese want to go back with Daryl to the yard they know they have to kill the rest of these field walkers first.

Glenn and Maggie see Daryl in the distance running back to the yard but they can't see why because of the high grass. They continue going further in to the fields killing walkers. Glenn takes a quick glimpse back at Daryl and he sees that he is carrying Carol in his arms, "Caro..." Glenn instantly becomes choked up as he can see Carol is bleeding profusely from the shoulder. Glenn gets enraged and starts killing every walker in site as if it was the one that bit Carol. Maggie looks at Glenn and sees that he is red in the face with tears. Maggie looks back at the yard and sees Daryl carrying Carol back in to the yard. "Nooo! God damn it!" Maggie yells then she immediately starts to kill walkers with the same fury as Glenn.

As Michonne tries to races down stairs as fast as she can with her sword in her hand she hears Daryl scream Carol's names. Once she gets to the back door she removes the coaxial cable knot and opens it. When she steps outside she sees Daryl carrying Carol to the yard. "Oh no, no!" Michonne yells out. "Bring her inside!" While Daryl carries Carol's body up the back steps Michonne looks around and sees that group has gotten the number field walkers down to about 12. She holds the door open for Daryl as he brings Carol inside. Michonne follows a sobbing Daryl in to the living where he kneels on the floor to lay Carol down on the couch. He takes his vest and shirt off in order to wrap it around Carol's bleeding shoulder. Michonne is in tears because she realizes that their group is about to lose another member.

Daryl breaks down and starts crying on Carol's good shoulder, "Carol, Carol! Why!" he screams. Carol lays on the couch not saying a word but she cries seeing how upset Daryl is by her getting bit. She lifts her hand and touches his face, "it's alright Daryl. You will be alright." "Just don't let me turn." She says while trying to breathing. She looks over at Michonne, "Michonne don't let me turn, promise me?" Michonne leans on the back of the couch. Daryl looks at Carol and sobbingly says, "I can't, I can't Carol. Please don't ask me to do this, please."

Rick and Tyreese come rushing through Michonne's kitchen door and they see Carol bleeding on the couch. Tyreese drops to his knees in front of the couch arm rest in torment and begins to weep; he reaches his hand up to touch Carol's leg then pulls it back as if removing his hand would help her live. Rick stands in the middle of the living room a little ways from the couch then he looks at Carol and squats down to her level in the middle of the floor holding his head in his hands shaking his head in nonbelief.

Carol looks down past her legs to see Tyreese at her feet then she shakes her head no while telling him, "Tyreese don't… don't let me turn." "No Carol, please don't go...please." Tyreese tells her in a timid voice. Carol then lifts her head just enough to push Daryl to the side to see Rick in the middle of the floor crying. Rick looks up at her reluctantly he walks over to her and kneels down in front of her then he grabs her hand. Rick can barely bring his self to speak when he says, "Car…Carol I am so sorry. You saved my little girl from Terminus, you saved all of us from there. I shouldn't have sent you…" Carol squeezes Rick's hand tight and quietly says, "Rick I told you there is nothing that I wouldn't do for our people. Nothing." She whispers. "But now I'm afraid it's your turn to do what I had to back at the prison and at the grove." Rick burst in to tears because he didn't want to but, he also knew that he was the only one now who understood what she did at the prison and why he is the one that will have to take care of her before she turned. "Rick I don't trust anyone else here to do it, "Promise me, promise me." She whispers again. Rick looks down at the floor then looks at her shoulder then at the rest of her body as it begins to jerk from shock. Rick touches her leg with his other hand trying to control the shaking of her body. He looks back up at her and shakes his head yes.

Maggie, Glenn, Bob and Sasha rush in through the kitchen door, just as they run in to the living room they see Rick with Daryl's fire poker in his hand as he rams it in to Carol forehead. Michonne's living room is dead silent. The only things that can be heard are the faint noises of one or two tin cans clanging together on the broken chicken wire fence in the yard.

Rick walks away from Michonne's house in daze. The sun was now in the position of noon. All the events so far that morning seemed to happen so fast it felt like he may have been dreaming. One second he was kissing Michonne the next he was laughing with Karl and Michonne in the kitchen eating oatmeal, the next second he was driving a fire poker through the skull Carol Peletier . She was one of the last survivors from the Atlanta group after he left King County. The only people left from that group were Daryl, Glenn Rick and Karl. Rick stopped in the middle of the street trying to get a hold of his thoughts. But the only thing that kept coming to his mind was the words that Morgan told him, "There will be a reckoning." Rick couldn't help thinking that maybe this was his reckoning. He sentenced Carol to banishment for killing Karen and David because they were dying and yet he had just committed the same act. Rick decided that he needed to get out of his head so he went back home to check on Karl and Judith.

Rick knocks on the door, "Karl? It's me." He hears someone moving the couch from against the door. Karl opens the door and sees his father covered in blood. Rick walks in and closes the door and tells Karl, "I'm alright." Jane comes down stairs slowly with a daunting look on her face, "Who, was it my brothers?" she asks. "Is Michonne o.k.?" Karl asks. "No, no they are all fine. We lost Tara, Eugene…", then Rick looks at Jane and Karl, "…we lost Carol." The three of them stood in silence. Karl turned around and ran upstairs to his room and closes the door. Rick plops down on the couch depleted of energy and emotion.

Jane walks in to the kitchen and places Judith in her high chair and puts some chopped carrots on her tray. She walks back in to the living and sits down next to Rick, "Oh, honey I am so sorry. Carol..., she was a good woman. She saved me and brothers, Judith, you and your group." She said in a sad voice but with no tears. Jane places her arm around Rick's neck and gently pulls his head to her shoulder and begins to stroke his bloodied matted hair. "Tara and Eugene…" Jane sighs then whispers, "…they were such good people." "Tara and Eugene were taken by walkers but…Carol got bit pretty bad, it was just a matter of time before…" Rick stops speaking cause he can't bring himself to say out loud what he had to do. Jane softly rubs his hair a little more and whispers, "Is Michonne alright?" "Yea, she wasn't out there thank goodness." Rick tells her with the sound of relief in his voice.

Rick gets up from the couch, "Look, I am going to go take a shower but first I am going to talk to Karl." He tells her. Rick goes upstairs and knocks on Karl's bedroom door, "Karl? Can I come in?" Karl doesn't answer so Rick opens the door and he sees Karl sitting on the bed staring out the window. "Karl, are you alright?" Rick asks him. Karl takes a deep breath then he turns around to look at Rick, "I don't know?" Rick walks over to him and places his hand on his shoulder then Rick kneels down to his level, "I know how you feel, Carol has been with us a long time. She helped us get out of Terminus…" Karl interrupts his father, "No that's not it. I mean…I know she has been with us and she saved all of us from Terminus. It's just that, hearing about her death makes me feel nothing like…numb." "I just feel like I knew this was going to happen all along. I mean I will miss her and I will miss Tara and Eugene but I don't feel sad. What's wrong with me Dad?" Rick looks at Karl, "Karl you're probably in shock by the news that's all. There's nothing wrong with you." Karl looks at his father with a look of doubt all over his face and says, "Are you sure? Are you sure the sadness will come. Cause I really don't think it will Dad." Karl walks out of the room but before he leaves his father he says, "I hope you are right about there being nothing wrong with me, I better go help them clean up the dead." Then he walks out of the room. Rick stands up and stands still for a minute. He knew that if Karl didn't have any grief for the people that they lost today he will have crossed a point of no return. And if he has crossed that thin line he will have failed him as a father.


	8. Chapter 8: 151 Proof

After the devastating loss of Carol, Tara and Eugene the post Terminus group insists that Michonne stay with someone in order to keep her safe while she heals from her injuries. Rick offers to have her stay with him and Jane but Sasha and Bob feel it would be best if she stays with them so they can tend to her injuries. Michonne is very reluctant to have anyone take care of her but; she realizes that the group has been severely weakened by the acute catastrophe of the 3 members of their group and especially the demise of Carol Peletier. So she packs her clothes and her sword and goes to share a house temporarily with Bob, Sasha, Daryl and Tyreese. Daryl chooses to stay in the living room so Michonne has some place to rest properly and also because Bob and Sasha need to take care of the gash on her leg.

As Michonne lamely walks in to her new tentative home Sasha leads her upstairs to the room where she will be staying, once the two enter the room Michonne slowly limps across the room to an old wooden dresser. The dresser has a large mirror frame attached to it but the mirror has a large diagonal crack that runs from one corner to its opposite. Sasha quietly closes the door behind her to in order to speak with Michonne privately. Sasha leans on the door because she doesn't want anyone to walk in.

"O.k. Chonne' I am not here to intrude or to be nosey but we need you now more than ever. We lost three people in a about of 30 minutes early this morning. Now, I can understand that you may not want to tell me anything specific I get that but, like I said we need you back healthy and that won't happen if you don't let me check out all of your injuries. No one with the exception Rick, Daryl and Karl know specifics. Judging by your unwillingness to have me give you are full examination I can take a pretty good educated guess as to exactly what happened but that is beside the point." Sasha gradually starts to walk closer to Michonne, each step she takes makes a cricking noise on the floor, "Let. Me. Help. You," she says in short bursts.

Michonne takes her satchel and katana and gently lays it on the floor next to the old jalopy wooden dresser, take a deep sigh and shakes her head yes. "Alright let me get my stuff, while I am gone you lock the door and strip down to underwear and bra." Sasha instructs her.

Meanwhile its mid-afternoon and there is a moist breeze flowing through the tall grassy fields where Carol was fatally bit. Tyreese, Daryl and Glenn dig a grave for Carol's body neither one of the men have said word. With every stab in to the ground each of them take with their shovel they release the sorrow and heartache that flows from their bodies in to the soft earth.

After a while, Rick, Maggie, Jane, Karl, Judith, James and Jimmy arrive at the grave just before they are about to lower Carol Peletier 's body in to the ground. "Maybe someone should say a few words…" Tyreese says with anguish in his voice. He looks around at the Carol's mourners but he can see that no one wants to speak. So Daryl and Glenn lay Carol to rest in the grave and start the emotionally painful process of covering her body with the earth. Tyreese, Jane and the others somberly start to walk away leaving Rick, Daryl, and Glenn behind standing around the grave.

As the three of them look at the grave they can hardly look each other in the eye nor do they speak any words, there are no words that have to be said with regard to Carol's death. The fact that the only adults left from their first group are the three of them is simply terrifying. But neither one of them will speak of the sheer panic that they are feeling at this intensely bitter moment.

Daryl looks away from Carol's grave and glances up at the sky and he can see the sun is starting to disappear under darkening storm clouds. He feels the warmness of his tears streaming down his face as the moist breeze turns in to storm winds, with an immensely heavy sigh Daryl wipes his face and nose with his sleeve and says, "We better get moving if we wanna collect this rain water." Then the last three adult survivors from the Atlanta group walk away in separate directions wondering not if they will die but when, where and how.

Sasha closes the door to Michonne's room when she hears Bob, Tyreese and Rick talking in the living room. She comes down stairs and walks over to them, "Well how is she?" Rick asks anxiously, "Her ribs are just bruised it will take I would say 3-4 weeks for it to heal properly but, I want Bob to take a look at it too just for a second opinion. Her leg is another story. She has been trying to keep it clean but it doesn't smell like hits healing correctly and I think that's because somebody needs to really get in there clean it and stitch it up…today." Sasha tells them. "Alright let's get started," Tyreese tells her. "There's one minor detail…I don't have any pain killers all I have is Motrin and antibiotics the Motrin won't kick in fast enough before we lose the light. In order to clean that wound properly she's going to need something for the pain and..." Sasha says with some hesitance, "We are gonna need at least two strong people to hold her still in the process." Everyone gets quiet. Bob un-expectantly turns toward the stairs and says, "Hold that thought," then he runs up the stairs to their bedroom. When he comes back down stairs he has a fifth of Bacardi 151 proof in his hand.

"I picked this up on a run a few months back…just in case," Bob pauses, "…well I don't need it anymore. A combination of this and about 800mg of Motrin we may stand a chance at not getting the shit kicked out of us by her while Sasha cleans and stitches her leg." Bob tells them. "That's the plan?" Rick says looking at the three. "Hold on she may not like it but, I think Bob should take care of the cleaning and the stitches." Sasha says. Bob looks at her confused, "I mean I can do stitches but Bob has been on the front lines of war giving stitches maybe he's better suited for this type of surgery." Bob is silent at first then shakes his head, "She's right I probably would be better suited especially for someone who's going to be moving around" Bob says agreeing with her. "Let's get Abraham in here to hold her other leg down, Sasha you assist me with the surgery and pour her the 151 if she needs it." Bob tells everyone confidently. It looks like it's about to rain so we're gonna need to gather up as much water as possible boil it and get some clean dry sheets. Sasha, you go in there and let her know what needs to be done, give her the Motrin and antibiotics and give her a lot of shots. We should probably gather as many candles and spare flashlights as we can. The way it looks outside we are gonna lose the light earlier than usual today." He instructs everyone.

Bob and Tyreese start for the front door, "Shouldn't she eat something before she drinks that?" Tyreese asks while walking out the front door with Bob. "Naw, the alcohol will hit her a lot fast on an empty stomach." Bob tells him closing the front door behind them. As Tyreese and Bob walk out the front door, Rick stops Sasha before going up stairs and asks, "Sasha, give me a minute to talk with her." Sasha agrees and hands him the bottle of Bacardi and walks in to the kitchen.

Swollen storm clouds begin to set the stage for the down pour about to take place on the tiny survivor neighborhood. Michonne is leaning up against the side of the long window sill still in her underwear and bra. She watches how graceful the storms clouds move across the fading pale blue sky. The fusing of the voluminous clouds and lightening and yet no thunder gives her an eerie uneasiness of what's to come. Her wondering thoughts are disrupted by the closing of the front door down stair. She watches Bob and Tyreese as they walk next door.

Rick knocks on the bedroom door, "Michonne, it's Rick can I come in?" he asks. "It's open." She says. Rick opens the door and he spots Michonne standing by the window watching Bob and Tyreese walking next door to get Abe. He forgets himself as he eyes her dark brown toned legs and how perfectly snug her underwear caresses her bottom and hips. Rick closes his eyes so that her can clear his thoughts because he's distressed over what he has to tell her.

"Listen we have plan for your leg. Sasha said that…" Michonne cuts him off, "I heard the plan. It's fine Rick." "Oh…well that's good." He says with his long southern drawl. He pauses for a second then looks down at the bottle in his hand, "This 151 proof alcohol is pretty strong…it will probably…well, I've seen men drink a 1/5 of moonshine straight down and start hallucinating. There's no telling what you might see when this hits you…" Rick pauses again briefly then continues with, "I just don't want you to get confused with what happened a few days ago and what we are trying to do now because we're gonna have to hold your arms and legs down." Michonne turns away from the window and hobbles over to Rick and reaches for the bottle then she sympathetically touches his rugged beard, and with petite smile says with heavy sigh, "I hear you Grimes…I hear you."

Any other early evening the sun can still be seen as it disappears in to the horizon but today storm clouds seem to have shown up on queue with the events from earlier this morning and the impending events to come. Just as the last of the daylight begins to disappear Michonne watches as the window becomes saturated with raindrops. The window and window sill are old and she can feel the trickles of rain on her toes and it seeps its way inside the room. She slowly sips her second cup of luke warm Bacardi 151 when she sees James and Jimmy running down the block en route to Rick's house. Her gaze upon the brothers from her window is long as the Motrin and 151 start to quickly take effect. While she watches the brothers rush down the block in the rain she is reminded of what she saw or what she thinks she saw happen in the fields earlier that morning.

The bedroom is now setup like a makeshift O.R. There are lit candles setup all around the room, and about 7-8 flashlights hanging very low from the ceiling hovering over the bed and bowls of sterilized water on the side. Michonne takes another sip slowly when she hears Rick, Tyreese and Abe walk in to the room. Bob and Sasha are whispering to them but Michonne can't quite hear what they are mumbling due to the alcohol. Michonne closes her eyes because she can feel the Motrin and the Bacardi coming down on her harder and harder with every sip. When she opens hers eyes Jimmy and James are out of view but she can see everyone behind her through the reflection of the window. She sees everyone's face then she sees Rick staring at her from the reflection as well, but suddenly her vision begins to blur Rick's reflection. She all of the sudden stands up straight takes a deep breath and drowns the last of the Bacardi in her cup then she turns around to everyone in the room and says, "Alright, I'm ready."

As Michonne limps and staggers at the same time toward the bed holding on to the wall in the process, Sasha walks over to her to help her to the bed but Michonne pulls away from her. Sasha puts her hands up cautiously as she is doesn't want to upset her in this state; as Sasha steps back a little she glances over at the Bob. "Looks like Michonne's not feeling anything no more." Abraham chuckles, but no one else is laughing. Michonne makes her way to the bed and lies down on her back and spreads her legs apart. Everyone with the exception of Abraham can appreciate the sensitivity involved. It would appear that no one is interested in hearing Abraham's voice much less any insensitive jokes.

Tyreese moves to the top of the mattress on his knees ready to hold Michonne's arms while Abe and Rick are at the bottom ready to hold her legs. Bob quickly explains to everyone in the room what he has to do and how important it is that she is kept as still as possible. Michonne closes her eyes as she starts to feels her head spinning; she's trying to remember what Rick told her earlier about the hallucinations. "Alright Chonne, here we go." Bob says. Rick and Abe grab her smooth dark legs tightly while Tyreese grabs both of her arms tightly as well. Michonne wiggles her arms and legs a little, an automatic reaction to being held down.

Sasha pours the vinegar on the wound and Michonne lets out a blood curdling scream that shakes the room. Bob motions to Sasha to pour some more on it. She screams again, "FUUUCK! Give me another drink damn it!" Sasha gives her another shot of Bacardi. Michonne throws the shot down her throat, takes deep breathes then, looks down at Bob motioning him to start working on cleaning the wound. Michonne groans loudly as he digs deep in to the wound trying to clean it thoroughly. When Bob is finished cleaning the wound he tells Sasha to pour more vinegar on the wound. Michonne screams aloud again, "Ahhhh! You mutha fucker!"

Rick can't bear to look Michonne in the face as it's too painful for him to see her in such agony. Tyreese is look down over top of Michonne and sees that she keeps trying to lean up to look on the floor. He follows her line of sight and he sees that she is looking at her katana on the floor. "Sasha, move that sword across the room out of her site. If she somehow grabs a hold of that thing she may cut us all to pieces." Tyreese yells.

"Alright, it looks pretty clean. I'm ready to start on the stitches. It's gonna be some pretty deep stitches so hold her down tighter", Bob announces. Sasha gives her another shot. Bob looks around at everyone signaling to get ready. Bob pierces Michonne's skin with a needle and she screams out more obscenities. "Wait…" Rick says, "Sasha rip one of those pillow cases and gag her she may attract every walker within a quarter mile radius."

Michonne slips out of consciousness for a moment from the Bacardi and the pain, when she come back in to consciousness a few minutes later she realizes that she has been gagged, suddenly forgetting everything Rick said earlier and why she is there in the first place.

Michonne starts struggling trying to get up because this feels almost exactly like what happened a few days ago. "Michonne look at me, look at me! You're alright!" Sasha tells her. "Hold her down." Bob yells, and then he starts the stitching again. Michonne starts to scream with the torn pillow case wrapped around her mouth and head trying to move her legs and arms as hard as she can. She starts crying and screaming a muffled "No!" when she finally passes out from the pain and trauma of the surgery.

Bob puts a bandage on the wound and announces that he is done. Tyreese lays her limp arms by her side while Abe and Rick release her legs slowly. "I think it went well. Sasha can check it later when she wakes up," Bob tells everybody. Abe follows up with, "You mean once she sobers up." Everyone stops and looks at Abe with contempt and disgust by his malice remark. Then Tyreese looks over at and he can see Rick turn around trying to contain himself from beating Abe unconscious. "Abe let me walk you out." Tyreese says ushering him out the room.

Bob and Sasha begin cleaning up the Medical supplies while Rick turns off the dangling flashlights. As they head for the door, Sasha turns around and sees Rick sitting on the tool Bob was using for the surgery, covering Michonne up with a blanket. "It's getting dark out and it's raining like crazy out there what about Karl and Judith?" Sasha asks. "I told them I would probably be here a while so Jane's brothers are gonna stay the night." He responds. Rick goes back to staring at Michonne as if Sasha wasn't even there. Sasha gives him tiny smile and nod and closes the door slowly while watching flicking candles around the room.


	9. Chapter 9

James and Jimmy knock on Jane's door in the pouring rain soaked to the bone. James is alarmed because he isn't sure if Jimmy is shaking because of the cold rain or if he is still shook up by what he did to Eugene earlier that morning.

Jane opens the door and lets her brothers in. They both immediately walk in to the kitchen and they see Karl sitting at the table and Judith in her high chair eating some left over rabbit that was retrieved by Karl and Daryl yesterday morning from the Rick's snares. "Hey Karl what's up buddy" James says with a smile while trying to shake of the excess rain, "Nothing much James, Hey Jimmy?" Karl says. Jimmy simply nods his head then walks back in to the living room. Karl looks at Jane and James with a confused look on his face, "What's wrong with Jimmy?" He asked.

Jane watches as Jimmy walks off in to the living room to sit down on the couch. While Jane is observing Jimmy, Karl is watching Jane's facial expression as it goes from freakishly cheery to cold and dark.

Karl could never get a good feel for Jane and her brothers. Once Rick found out that Jane was instrumental in keeping Judith safe at Terminus and how she managed to lead Tyreese and Carol to his train car made Rick feel eternally grateful. But Karl couldn't get over how nice she was all the time. She was never mean or upset about anything. If you heard her stomach growling she would say that it was gas. Jane didn't act normal. She always acted like everything was fine, even when they weren't. There were times when Karl would catch her with both of her hands on the sides of the stove and she would just stand there looking down at the burners. She could stay in that position over the stove two maybe three hours. But anytime Rick came in to the house she could break the trance and become weirdly happy again. Karl didn't know what to make of her, Karl couldn't say that he liked Jane but he also could say that he didn't. Which meant (at least to Karl) she shouldn't be here. But he was of the same mind as his father with regard to the safety of Judith. Jane did take good care of Judith and Karl knew his father couldn't take care of a toddler all day every day even if he wanted to. He just didn't feel the need to have her under the same roof as them. Karl would rather have Michonne than Jane.

"Karl, I am gonna take them upstairs and get some dry clothes for them. You keep an eye on your sister, o.k.?' Jane says. Karl nods his head in agreement.

Once Jane and her brothers get upstairs she closes the door and locks it. "What happened this morning?" She says while locking the door behind her. "Why isn't she gone? " Jane says with annoyance. "There was a problem." James says while looking at Jimmy. "What problem?" She asks. Jimmy looks at Jane from the corner of his eye intimated and frightened by her reactions so far. "Eugene said something to Glenn and Maggie about her being attacked so I wounded Eugene in the leg and he got bitten by walkers." Jimmy tells her with a quiet quiver in his voice. "Tara saw what Jimmy did and started yelling so I pushed her in to the same walkers that were eating Eugene, I had no choice. Michonne stayed inside. Daryl said that Carol got bit while trying to save him from walkers." James says.

Jane turns toward Rick's dresser and starts to pull out some dry clothes for them quietly. "Yea, that was a pity what happened to Carol" she tells them. "Did anyone else see what you did?" she asked. James shakes his head no while taking of his soaked shirt and pants. As Jane hands some dry clothes to her brothers she starts to walk around the bedroom slowly contemplating what they should do next. "Well just leave things the way they are until things cool off." She said quietly opening the door to leave. Just as she begins to go down stairs she sees Karl coming up with Judith. "What are doing? Did you guys finish your dinner already?" she says in that oddly cheerful voice. "Yea, Judith started falling asleep in her chair." Karl says grinning at Judith. "Oh, I'll take her off your hands." She says reaching for Judith. Karl pulls away and says, "No, it's alright I'll put her to bed." "Oh, o.k. sure" she responded.

The next morning Rick is still waiting for Michonne to wake up from the surgery the night before. He's sitting on the floor against the wall sleeping. Michonne turns over on her side with the bruised rib and wakes up from the pain. As she opens her eyes she sees Rick against the wall sleep. When she sees him she starts to remember what happened the day before and realizes that she has a huge headache.

Gradually she sits up and looks down at the gash on her leg then puts her feet on the floor preparing to get up. She moans softly so that she doesn't wake Rick. When she stands she immediately begins to scan the room for her sword. She limps to the middle of the room to get a larger view. As she begins scanning the room she starts to get nervous because she can't find the sword anywhere. "Rick where's my katana?" She walks over to Rick against the wall, "Rick, Rick, where's my sword?" Rick wakes up briefly confused as to where he was. "It's right here next to me. You were hallucinating during the surgery. So we got a little concerned that you might dice us up if you got loose," he tells with a chuckle. Michonne was in shock by the idea that she was that drugged up and says, "Really? Oh wow. Did I hurt anyone? "No, but it took a lot of strength to hold you down." Rick says smiling while get up off the floor. "How do you feel?" "Like I've been in two bar fights." She laughs while grabbing some shorts and a t-shirt.

Rick starts to moan and rubs his neck. Michonne looks at Rick, "This is the second night that you haven't slept in a bed Rick. Go home. I will be alright here." She tells him. As she walks over to the window she sees that the rain has stopped but the overcast has remained. "Rick, is everything alright at your house?" She questioned him. "Why what's up, what wrong?" Rick says anxiously while walking toward her by the window. "No, nothing is '_wrong'_ Rick. I mean, is everything going alright with Jane and Judith" she asks.

Rick walks over to the other window and looks out at the cul de sac and tells her, "Everything is alright I guess, she's taking really good care of Judith and Karl which is what I need somebody to do and her brothers make sure that the three of them are safe if I am not there." Michonne wants to tell him what she saw yesterday but, she's still not sure about exactly what she saw. If she mentions it to Rick It will start more problems within the group. So instead she asks, "Is that why you have her living there?" "Because I would have been more than happy to do that for you…if you wanted," she says while looking out the other window.

Rick looks over at her and he can see that her feeling are hurt that he never asked her. He walks over to her window and leans on the opposite window sill, his arms folded, "Michonne I would've love to have you take care of kids. I know this won't come out right either but the fact is that," he pauses for a moment, "You are one my best warrior Chonne. Your fearless, your smart, and you care…a lot about all of us. I just can't afford to have you babysit. Rick looks out the window then back at her again, "When I am out there on a run or when we are all on the road I feel better knowing that you have got my back. I know that I have a better chance of survival if you are there with me. And when you are with me I feel better knowing that I can have your back. You being there for me lets me to be there for you."

He walks closer to Michonne, "It's not that I don't want you to take care of Karl and Judith. I know that if something should happen to me you would look out for them. But I want to stay around for them as long as I can. And I stand a better chance of that with you close by." He tells her.

Michonne looks down at the floor and sighs a little then looks up at Rick and shakes her head, "I get it. But what about you and Jane is that…something?" she asks. Rick walks back over toward the dresser leaving Michonne at the window. "It's not something, it's nothing really. I was just soo grateful that she kept Gareth and Mary away from Judith and the fact that she helped Carol and Tyreese get to us I…I wasn't sure how to repay her. So when she assumed the role of a nannie I just continued to let her do so. There's nothing there." He says. "But does she think that something is there." She asks. Rick looks down at his floor then at his reflection in the cracked dresser mirror, "She wants something more… that I can see, but she is just too young, too innocent she doesn't have any scars. I don't see her in that way. Hell, she's probably a few years younger than Maggie. Jane is just a kid." He tells her.

"Then why not pick Maggie or Sasha or Car…" Michonne stopped speaking because she remembered what happened yesterday. "I need as many soldiers as possible in order to keep everybody safe. Man woman…kid if they know how to fight walkers I want them right there with me to help fight off walkers." Rick says.

Michonne walks over to the dresser and gently places her hand on top of his, "Listen, now is not the time to potentially damage a young girl with false dreams. You need to make up your mind. She is taking care of your children so she has power over you. If something goes wrong between you and her Judith is at stake" She tells him while walking toward the bedroom door.

Rick quickly grabs her arm and turns her back around and passionately kisses her practically picking up where they left off yesterday morning before Karl walked in. Michonne wraps her arms around Rick's neck and runs her fingers through his filthy hair while he moves his hands around her hips and back. He pulls her in close as he takes a step back to lean on the dresser with her tight in his arms. He briefly stops the lip lock with her but keeps no more than a 1/2 an inch between their lips. The only time he wanted to see Michonne weak was for him by him. Rick enjoyed teasing her this way and she liked it…a lot. He began to slowly touch his lips to hers but this time he uses more care and sensitivity in the kiss and less passion. Michonne started to fall hard in to his tender kiss. This was different than yesterday morning. The two were enjoying this kiss just for what it is. Knowing that it was not going to lead to anything more.

Rick stops the kiss to ask softly, "How long will it take for your ribs to heal?" then continuing to kissing her again. Michonne whispers, "Not soon enough". She suddenly stops the kiss and grabs his face and kisses him once more and says, "And even then I don't want to get in to a **_grimy_** session with you so close to everyone. It might…I don't want to set a bad example." Michonne slowly smiles and turns away from him, "I think I get loud when **_we_**happen. I would be freaked out if people could hear us." She chuckles. She walks to the door and puts her hand on the door knob, "I would love to get dirty with Rick but I get the feeling that you may need to iron out some kinks in your house. It wouldn't matter to me if Jane was your wife or if you have five wives, what you and I have can always remain. I don't think this world makes allowances for monogamy any more. But Jane, if she is as young and innocent as you say, there's a good chance that she wants to play house with you. So you need to get your house in order." She tells him while opening the door for him to leave.

Rick is still leaning against the dresser with one arm folded across his chest and his other hand stroking his hairy chin. He knows that Michonne is telling him the truth she has always told him the truth whether he wanted to her it or not. He's been staying away from his house to avoid interacting with Jane. At the same time he has also been missing out on being the father that Karl and Judith deserved.

So Rick gets up off the dresser and walks toward the door, "I will stop by and check up on you…" Michonne interrupts him, "No, I am fine here, Bob and Sasha got me covered. Go and enjoy what you have been fighting so hard for Rick. I will be around." He shakes head and leaves the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Jane was the very convenient girlfriend of Gareth at Terminus. She was anywhere between the age of 22-27 around 5'5 and had naturally deep dark auburn red hair with dark gray eyes. She and her younger brothers James and Jimmy had only been with the Terminus group for a year and a half. Her brothers were barley driving age when the outbreak began.

Early on the Terminus group was managing to survive. There were teams that went out once a week to look for food in different location. However, on occasion the teams were followed back to Terminus by wandering groups that would come in and take all the food, tools, supplies, weapons women and children. Each time the Terminus survivors of the attack would have to pick up the pieces and start again.

During the rebuilding of the refuge times would become very lean. Smaller teams would leave to find food sometimes they would come back many times they didn't. While people waited at Terminus for more food they began to hallucinate and starve.

Mary, Gareth's mother started to speak of how in the animal world when there are periods of starvation and drought animals would consume their young in order to survive. She explained how animals had the ability to leave emotion out of their natural and instinctual need to survive. How the offspring would be unable to survive without their parent. Mother Nature has a way of ensuring the survival of her strongest and she has no need for her weakest. Animals are able to make the natural choice of consuming their offspring so that they can survive through a starvation period and once the animal is able to feed regularly they will reproduce again.

Mary's rationale was logical it made perfect sense to the survivors. But these were also survivors from the old civilized world that has since passed, an old world that would have repulsed at such acts of inhumanity. After a few days had gone by the Terminus survivors were so hungry they began to find Mary's reasoning acceptable. So Mary declared that the youngest survivors should be the first to be sacrificed for the greater good.

This new ideology sent Jane is to a frantic state simply because her brothers were gradually becoming men but were not full grown as of yet and the adult men left in the Terminus group wanted the brothers to fight them that way the adults could avoid the feelings of guilt when it came to killing and eating them.

From the first time Gareth saw Jane he was enamored with her hypnotic gray eyes and pale skin. Once Jane knew her brothers could be next on the menu block she immediately sprang in to action with stroking of Gareth's ego. Within a week she became familiar with conventional and "unconventional" ways of persuading Gareth to do what she wanted. Still Gareth was still very much controlled by his mother. But the only thing that Gareth wanted more than food and water was Jane. And in order to have her he had to keep Mary from killing James and Jimmy.

Still, in many ways Jane along with her brothers managed to benefit from Jane's sexual sacrifices. When the group would run low on food Jane would lure various wanderers to Terminus especially if they had children. After a while Jane became haunted by the actions of Gareth and Mary, their ridiculous need for ritual before sacrificing the young. Afterwards, instead of luring families and strangers to Terminus she began to warn them and insisted that they warn others who may cross their paths.

However, Jane was finally caught trying to help 3 sisters under the age of 12 get away from Terminus. As a punishment Mary insisted that Jane either watch the killing of the 3 sisters or her brothers would take their place. Not wanting her brothers to die she stood watch as the young girls were gagged. Jane closed her eyes during the butchery of the sisters but she could still hear their cries and screams. Jane would never be the same again.

Months later as the Terminus survivors became accustomed to this new way of life, Jane became pregnant with Gareth's baby. She tried to avoid eating as much as possible in hopes of a miscarriage but within 8 weeks it was easy to see from her emaciated body that she was carrying. She had desperately tried to only eat sunflowers seeds and pecans but Mary insisted that she eat meat. So Gareth along with other men and woman would hold her down and making her eat food from the grill.

As the end of her pregnancy grew near there was another shortage of food. Weeks began to go by and still no one was coming to Terminus looking for sanctuary. By the time Jane delivered people were once again starving. But for a little while Jane had experienced something that she had long forgotten happiness. Jane gave birth to a 6 pound baby girl. The survivors of course ate the remnants of the birth but not the baby. The only way for Jane to feed the baby was through breast milk. But breast mild could only be produced if she was able to eat something.

One early morning Gareth decided to babysit. Jane had an extremely hard night with the baby her milk production was weak and was not providing the baby with enough nutrients. The baby cried most nights because of this. One time the cries were so loud it actually attracted some roaming walkers in to Terminus kill three of its original survivors. As you could imagine this was unacceptable to the survivors especially Mary.

Grateful that Gareth would be willing to babysit while she took a nap she would have never guessed that that would be the last time she would hold her baby in her arms again. Hours later when Jane woke up she heard a deafening silence. She got dressed and walked in to the mess hall…


	11. Chapter 11

Rick slowly begins the walk down the block to his house replaying the kiss he had just shared with Michonne. At that moment he started thinking about what she afterwards about enjoying what he has been fighting for all this time. While he's walking down the street he sees Karl running up towards him.

"Hey, Dad", Karl says out of breath, "How's Michonne?" Rick smiles at his son, "She's good, Bob and Sasha are taking good care of her." "Oh, good I was just about to go see her." Karl tells him. "Well, why don't you wait a day or two, she was still groggy from the medicine they had to give her", Rick puts his arm around Karl and they begin to walking back down the block, "So what do you miss this morning?" Rick was starting the game that Michonne and Karl had been playing in the mornings. "Let me go first," Rick anxiously says, "I miss the smell of clean clothes coming out of the dryer", He says grinning while smelling the filthy shirt he had on. "Oh, I got one way better than that Dad", Karl says, "Christmas lights". Rick stops walking and looks down at Karl, "Christmas lights? Not Christmas presents?" "Karl looks down at the ground then back up at his father, "Well, the only thing I remember about Christmas presents was that I always got a bunch of toys", Karl shrugs his shoulder, "Now, it seems like toys are for somebody Judith's age so I suppose I don't really care about them anymore". Karl looks back down the block and sees Jane's brothers about to leave, then he looks back up Rick and grins, "But, I really do miss the Christmas lights though." Rick laughs a little, "Yea, I miss Christmas lights too. I guess you win this round." So father and son continue the walk home.

Rick and Karl reach the front porch "Hey Rick, Karl", James says extending his hand to Rick. Rick shakes James's hand then extends his hand to Jimmy. Jimmy quickly shakes Ricks hand as if they were dirty and puts his back in his pocket. "Hey guys, thanks for staying over last night" Rick tells them. "Not a problem, family should always look out for one another." James says walking past father and son.

Jane hears Rick's voice at the front door and comes out of the kitchen toward him, "Hey, your back! Everything alright up there," She says wrapping her arm around his neck and giving him a peck on the cheek. Still, Rick grimaces at Jane's display of affection, again he slides her arm from around his neck, "Ah, yea everything is good", Rick, tells her.

While Jane is trying to exchange fondness with Rick, Karl walks past their awkward moment in to the kitchen looking over his should as Jane tries to display her affection for Rick in the front doorway. When he reaches the kitchen he looks over his shoulder again and sees his father unwrapping Jane's arm from around his neck, Karl shakes his head and giggles at how fixated she is over his father.

"Look, I think I am going to hang around the house today. So I can put Judith down for a nap. You have been cooped up in this house for a while. I'm going to take a shower then I'll take these kids off your hands for the day." He says while going up the stairs. Jane pauses at the bottom of the stairs momentarily bothered by the idea of Rick and the kids hanging around the house without her. But she recalls some other matters that needed her urgent attention. In fact Jane felt that her business would be much easier without any children around for a while. So she walks back in to the kitchen with Karl and Judith.

Once Rick gets out of the shower and changes in to some clean clothes he hears Jane talking to Judith while coming up the stairs, "O.k., you ready to hang out with your Daddy Judith?" Jane looks at Rick grinning and waving Judith's little hand at him. "I tat, toone!" Judith babbles, Rick smiles from ear to ear when Jane passes Judith to him, "Where's Karl?" he asks. "Oh, he's in his room reading some books I found in a closet. I was going to go up the block to visit Michonne to see if she needs anything, but first I'm going to stop by Abe's and give James and Jimmy a haircut and a shave, they're about to resemble the men from duck dynasty", Jane chuckles. "When I come back I can take care of you and Karl if you like?" "Rick looks away from Judith for a moment and smiles, "Yea sure that work."

Jane walks down stairs in to the kitchen. She walks over to the cabinet where she keeps all the sharp objects. Just before opening the cabinet she looks over her shoulder making sure that no one is standing at the entrance. She moves away from the cabinet for a minute and places both hands on the either side of the stove and closes her eyes in an attempt to contain her fury over Rick wanting her to leave for a while.

She begins to grip the stove hard as though she could leave her hand imprint upon it. Her state is broken by the sound of Rick coming down the stairs. "Oh, I thought you had already gone?" Rick says as he looks down helping Judith walk in to the kitchen. "I was just on my way out the door, I just need to get the scissors and a blade", Jane walks over to the two then leans down to look at Judith, "I will see you later cutie." Jane looks at Rick, "See you later?" Rick nods his head yes.

On her way up the street Jane pass by Bob and Sasha's house she glances up at the windows to see if anyone is watching her. She knocks on the door, "Hi", Jane says. Abe looks her up and down, "Hello, gorgeous. What brings you by this morning? Where's Judith?" "Well, Rick has decided to stay home with the kids so I thought that I would come by and give James and Jimmy a good shave and a haircut. They still can't shave themselves that well just yet. I can shave and cut your hair too if you want? She says gleefully. "Well, it would be the highlight of my day." Abe says happily. "But they have already gone off to search for roaming walkers in fields, and Rosita has gone with Maggie to check on the elderly in the block so I guess you can do me first." Jane looks around the room for a moment, O.k. let me get some hot water, ah which room has the best natural light?' She asks walking toward the kitchen. My room has the biggest window." He yells out. "O.k., I will meet you there in a few minutes." She yells back.

The smell of the once boarded up house tinges her nose as she carefully walks up the stairs with a small pot of hot water. Jane can see how old the walls are by how much build up is on the walls from the past couple of years. Clearly it has been so hot in that house that the buildup had melted on the wall paper.

When she gets up stairs to Abe's room she uses the pot to gradually push the partially open door. As she walks in it smells like musty sex. She looks to the right of her and sees Abe sitting in front of a decaying antique mahogany vanity with a large an oval vanity mirror. Abe had pulled the vanity away from the wall so Jane would have the best day light reflection in the mirror.

She places the pot on the floor not wanting to destroy the vanity any more than it already is, "Let me open the windows some, it smell like…tomato sauce in here." "Tomato sauce, what the hell," Abe laughs loudly, "How do you smell tomato sauce in here, I could go for some spaghetti right now for real." Abe laughs again. Jane walks over to the window furthest from the house to the left then looks out at the street,"When I was little whenever I would walk in to my parent's bedroom after they had sex I always thought it smelled like tomato sauce." Jane walk back over to Abe and grabs the clean rag off his shoulder , puts it in the pot and places the blade in there as well. A few seconds later she pulls the hot rag out of the water. Abe notices how much steam is coming off the rag, "Here let me wring that out for you that is way too hot." With one hand Jane gently holds is chest in place so he doesn't get up.

Jane stands straight up and looks in Abrahams eyes then she removes the rubber band in her hair letting down the dark auburn hair so that it fall down around her neck and shoulders. Abe watches her forgetting that his mouth is wide open, a gnat enters his mouth, "Thuh, thuh", he grunts waving his hands in front of his face.

Let me see how I could do this," she says trying to figure out where to start. She glances down at his pants and sees that he likes the way she let down her hair. She looks back up at his eyes and begins to ring out the hot cloth with her hands.

For Abe in his line of work, he could withstand the heat of that hot rag but her hands turn a heavy pink as she wrung the rag out over the pot. She looks at him again tilting her head right and left, then she decides the easiest way to approach this is by sitting on his lap. So she straddles her legs softly sits down on his lap, then she leans down to grab the blade out of the hot water.

Abe is a little nervous as he looks at Jane holding the blade so he says, "I really wanted to see Judith today, after the mess last night." Jane looks at him like a cat examining its prey, "Oh, what happened last night?" she says while lifting his chin up and back. "Well, they decided that they had to get Michonne drunk enough for Bob and …" Jane interrupts him abruptly and looks at him with those now cold dark gray eyes, "Better yet, what happened to the plan a few days ago? Jimmy tells me that Eugene said something to Glenn and Maggie?" she tells him while gently scraping his throat with the blade. Abe doesn't speak until she is finished with the stroke; he exhales slightly and tells her, "Eugene heard the three us talking the night before we attacked her. I told him to keep his mouth shut but you know how much of an idiot he was. It was just a matter of time before something bad happened to him" he tells her. "It doesn't matter anyway, Eugene is out of the picture now", Jane begins another stroke and he waits again until she finishes, "Michonne is wounded it will be easier next time." He says. Jane continues the shave in silence till she is finished. "Next time," she asks sitting harder on his lap feeling his manhood expand.

Jane's lean back some and pulls her shirt off exposing her breasts. Abe looks down at her breasts and instantly gravitates his head toward them but she stops his action, in the voice to that of a young girl, "I thought you said that you wanted me, that you would do anything to have me again", she wines while grabbing his crotch, "I thought that you would help me then I would help you." "I thought you hated Rick and wanted his family after losing your own", She begins to dry hump Abe causing him to moan a little more.

"I thought you wanted to get him back for making you look like an asshole for believing Eugene was an important scientist." Abe is still speechless he wants Jane so badly, "Don't you want me right?" she whispers in his ear. Abe eagerly shakes his head yes.

She stands up quickly and pulls off her pants, then she unzips his pants and puts Abe in side of her causing him to moan. As she starts to grind Abe with every thrust of her body she says, " Come with me Abe just like last time, what are you going to do for me Abe, What are you going to do for me?" She starts to ride him harder and faster, "Oh my God, I'm gonna kill her", he whispers while putting his hands on Jane's hips.

She slows down the ride because she can see he is about to blow. She pulls his head up out of breast by his hair, gets up and puts her clothes back on leaving Abe with a hard on. "What's…what's going on?" Abe says with a confused look on his face. "Once Michonne is out of the picture we will finish this." She says in a serious tone, "And when that happens, I will get rid of Rick for you." As soon as she dresses she walks over to Abe and licks his lips again and whispers "Get it done."

Daryl took Carol's death as well as the attack on Michonne pretty hard. In order to mourn and collect his emotions he has been staying down at the bottom of the block at Michonne's place for the past couple of weeks or so while she has been staying in his room up the block healing from her injuries.

In fact while Rick and Daryl were working on fortifications for the cul de sac during the day they were discussing that maybe Daryl should live at the end of the block and Michonne stay up there with Bob and Sasha permanently. But the both of them knew that that would be a hard, damn near impossible sell when it comes to her. They could tell that over the past couple of months she has been trying to make herself a little more accessible to the group but she still needed her space, alone time and if she didn't get it she may try and go off on a run by herself like she used to do when she'd say she was going out trying to find the Governor.

Daryl decides to go and get some tools out of the room Michonne was currently occupying up the block. "Knock, Knock, Michonne its Daryl are you descent?" he asks. Michonne opens the door, Yea what's up?" "I just need to get some tools out of the dresser." He tells her. Michonne narrows her eyes a bit out of confusion because she looked through those same dresser drawers' weeks ago and there were couple of shirts and some pants in drawers but no tools. "Sure come on in" she says. Daryl wanders in and heads toward the dresser. "So how are you feeling?" Michonne closes the door getting a sense of where this conversation may be going, "Like I got beat up by a brick wall."

Daryl continues to rummage through the drawers while Michonne sits down on the bed. He stops rummaging and says, "You know that Rick told me about what happened to you a few weeks back. I doubt if anyone outside you, me, Rick and Karl know the details." Michonne gets annoyed and slaps her hands on her leg and then winces from the pain it caused in her ribs and thigh. He turns around slightly and says in a low voice, "You knew he would tell me." He looks back down at the dresser, "You know how the three of us roll," then he suddenly looks at her reflection in the cracked dresser mirror, "We Ride or die, right?" Michonne looks at Daryl's reflection in the mirror closes her eyes and shakes her head agreement.

"I understand why you didn't say anything and I appreciate it, because, I would have lost it fo' sho'". He slams the drawers in to the dresser then pauses before saying, "Look, I don't know what you said to Merle that day he was gonna take you to the Governor…what I do know is that my brother never did the right thing his entire life. In that short period of time you were with him he must have grew some type of scruples", he lets out a big sigh and says, "Look, when Merle let you go that day _with_ your sword he knew you were coming back to the prison. He knew you were better for us than him." Daryl turns around, "So when he sent you back he knew you would be filling his spot to me as kin. You're kin to me now. Now that Carol is gone…" Daryl pauses to keep himself from crying, "…you're kin to us, to me Chonne, and I will put a fucking bullet in the head of anybody that tries to hurt my kin."

Michonne is not too shocked by what Daryl is saying. When they would go out on runs back at the prison, she and Daryl bonded on the level of a brother and sister. They didn't exchange many words when out of runs, but they didn't have to they already knew what type of oath it was. That was also the reason why Daryl kept getting pissed off when she would leave for weeks on end looking for the Governor.

The room goes silent for a moment then she says, "Daryl I know what you're saying, I…I just want to hold on to this refuge as long as we can. Believe me, if I knew exactly who was involved I would've told you and Rick by now. But I don't know. And until I do, I don't want to stir everybody up." She says while getting up off the bed. "We have all been through a whole hell of a lot these past couple of weeks." Michonne walks over to one of the walls and starts doing standup push-ups on it.

Michonne pauses her push-ups and considers telling Daryl about what she saw that fateful morning with Jimmy and James. Daryl is looking down at his shoe trying to hold in his anger, "Look, I saw something that day but…" she begins softly. Daryl interrupts her and says in a burst of anger, "Once I find out the bastards that did this to you…well let's just say I doubt if this tiny survivor neighborhood is going to want me living around here anymore."

Michonne stops again and turns her head to look over at Daryl then walks toward him, "I know you're angry. You and Rick are on the war path. If you find out who the punk bitches are…" Michonne shakes her head and reminisces, "It took three of them to hold me down. That's how I knew they were only coming after me… nobody else." She sighs, "The point that I am making is that…Just try to remember what's at stake…and if the survivors in the block don't want _you_ around anymore…" They grip each other's right wrists like a roman centurion handshake, "…we ride or die".

Daryl starts walking toward the door when Michonne looks at him on his way out and says, "What about the tools?" Daryl opens the door and looks at the door knob, "I must have left them somewhere else." Then he walks out the room.


	12. Chapter 12

Three weeks have past and there has intermittent rain and dreary clouds most of the time with the exception of a hint of sunlight here and there. Every abled body individual has been contributing to the fortifications of the cul de sac. There have been a couple of walkers wandering around the perimeter but for the most part everything and everybody has been very quiet.

The constant overcast in sky appears to be the proper backdrop for the post Terminus group after losing Carol a few weeks ago. Never taking anything away from Tara and Eugene but, Carol had been with Rick, Daryl and Glenn from the very beginning. In some ways the mood of everyone was that of waiting to die instead of the having the desire to live. Not survive …but live.

Rick had been taking Michonne's advice and staying close to home with his kids in the evening. Carl had stopped by Bob's and Sasha's a few times to see Michonne, but Carl was enjoying the company of his father and Judith. He wasn't even as freaked out as he used to be about Jane anymore, especially since his father had started sleeping on the futon in the living room downstairs. On occasion when the sun would peek out during the day, Rick would stop to take a break from the work to walk Judith around the front yard while Jane stood in the door way and watched.

Rick was able to see his people on a regular basis because they were all involved with fortifying the neighborhood. But he had to go to Bob's and Sasha's to see Michonne. When Rick would knock on the door she would tell him to either come back tomorrow or she just wouldn't answer the door at all. The only way Rick knew that she was alright was by asking Sasha or Bob if they had seen her that morning. Even then she would only let Bob or Sasha in her room in the morning. When she would let them come in to check on her they had to bring one day's worth of food because it was most likely she had no plans of coming out of the room unless it was to use the bathroom. Everyone knew "this" Michonne well enough to know that, this was the Michonne that would usually leave for a few days sometimes a week back at the prison.

But this actually wasn't the same thing; Michonne had been watching the day to day activities of the cul de sac from her window while she healed. She didn't like having to rely on people to take care of her…to look after her. During the first three weeks she laid in bed most of the time thinking about the prison group, Andrea, Hershel, Daryl and Karl, Judith and Andre', Mike and Rick. By the fourth week she had started to feel less pain in her ribs so she started a modest workout routine. By week 5 she was working out as though she was training for the Olympics again, 100 pushups here 75 sit-ups there. However, deep inside she knew that something was missing and she was aware that every day that she continued to stay locked away from the world it was going to be that much harder to locate. The night when the three men tried to rape her they took away the one thing that had been keeping her alive all this time.

One day there was a knock at her door first thing in the morning. "Michonne, its Sasha but I am not alone. I'm with Maggie, Rosita and Jane we want to talk to you for 10 minutes and then we will leave." Sasha says in a semi-low voice through the door. Michonne quickly opens the door and walks back over to the window, "So ladies, what's up?" She said in a bothered tone. Rosita closes the door behind her then follows the four women over to where Michonne standing. Sasha looks around at the women hoping that they would speak up but they were always nervous around Michonne.

Michonne stops looking out the window and looks at the four women still feeling bothered by their presence. But she furrows her brow and changes the look on her face when she observes the uneasiness in their faces. She pushes herself off the window sill and says, "What, what is it? Did something happen?" she says with great concern. "No, everything is fine." Maggie says with a jumpy voice. "Michonne we need…" Sasha starts off then she changes her words, "…We really want you to communicate with _us _more. What happened to you last month shouldn't have happened. We get it, you're complicated and you're a badass and you may not like being considered a 'woman' but you are one of us when it comes right down to it." Sasha's tells her pacing the bedroom floor. The room goes silent a little, then Rosita chimes in, "Yea Chonne' I mean, all of us should be able to find some kind of sisterhood especially since we have something that men will never have…a fucking period." All four women burst in to laughter at Rosita comment.

"Seriously, as women before all this happened we were always being hunted by men. There were some civility and laws that provided some security for us. But now it's just …" Sasha says with much regret, "us." Maggie touches Michonne's shoulder, "You know Daddy wouldn't want to see you cut off from the group like this especially cutting yourself off from the females now… that we lost Carol. Believe it or not we are the most prized possession in this group besides Karl and Judith."

Everybody looks at Jane to see if she will say something. "Michonne we get it. You have epitomized yourself as a warrior that is a match for any man or women. But you are still a woman. And just like men have their 'inside jokes' and chuckles we need that too." Jane tells her.

Michonne is surprised and hurt by her own actions, if she came off in an unapproachable manner that the four of them are speaking of. She walks to the middle of the room, "I am sorry if I made you feel like I was….standoffish. That certainly was not my intent. You're right, there is bond that we need amongst us that is a necessity to our..." She pauses momentarily, "…to our living that is vital." "I don't want any of you to be afraid to talk to me." Michonne walks over to the window on the right, "Listen, I promise I will communicate more with all you soon, it's just that…" Michonne looks at the four women then looks back out the window, "… I-I misplaced something and I won't be any use to the group until I find it."

This is something that all four women were relieved to hear. They kept thinking that she was on a level of power that they could never achieve. Her statement let them know that they were just as strong and just as vulnerable as she was.

"I have been working out like a gladiator but the one thing that I can't bring myself to do is leave this room" she says to her shame. Rosita walks over to her and says with empathy in her voice, "Your 'misplaced' item will never be found as long as you hide in this room."

Michonne collects her emotions and walks toward the bedroom door and gently places her hand on the doorknob and opens it, "I'm glad the four of you stopped by, and I will be out soon. 'Sisters', would make allowances for that with no questions asked…if need be."

The women walk out the bedroom, Jane being the last to leave stops by the open the door and quickly hugs Michonne and whispers in her ear, "You can always talk to me, whatever it is." Jane lets go of her slowly looking in her eyes as Maggie, Sasha and Rosita go down the stairs.

Rosita looks behind her because she doesn't hear Jane's footsteps so she turns around and sees Jane whispering something in Michonne's ear. Ever since the group left Terminus she never really cared for Jane. Jane reminded her of the street hustlers and scam artists that she used to keep company with in the old world. Rosita noticed that Jane was always smiling always too cheerful. She knew that anyone that happy all the time was fake and should never be trusted. However, now was not the time to address her issues with Jane, the main focus right now was to get Michonne out of that room and back in to world.

Michonne closed the door then sat back down on the bed and looked at her satchel and her trusted katana. She knew what Rosita said was right; she wasn't going to find what she was missing while remaining in hidden behind these for walls.

Michonne watched everyone leave the house for the day from her window while rubbing her forehead with her fingers. She turned around and began to stare at her satchel and her katana again. With an immediate sense of urgency she quickly walks across the room, puts her boots, grabs her satchel and katana and heads for the door. As she reaches for the door knob she felt a surge of panic and fear so she lets go. "Come Michonne", she whispers to herself, "there's too much at stake. If you don't find it you're as good as dead already." She slowly grabs the doorknob again but this time she opens the door and quickly runs down the stairs and heads for the back door.

Michonne opens the door a little to see if anyone is in the backyard, she sees that the fortifications haven't made it that far up the block and she can easily squeeze through chicken wired fence. She closes her eyes and inhales the moist morning air then she closes the door behind her heading for the open fields beyond the fence.

The next morning Tyreese goes to Michonne's room to bring her some food before everybody leaves for the day. He knocks on the door, "Michonne, can I come in I got something for you to eat while we're gone, Michonne?" Tyreese opens the door and walks in to the room. He looks at the around the empty bedroom then he sees that the bed is made up nice and neat. He leans his head back out in to the hallway, "Bob, Sasha come here quick!" He yells. Bob and Sasha come running up the stairs in a panic. "What's up?" Bob asks. "Look." When Bob and Sasha look around the room they see that Michonne has left. "Where would she go?" Tyreese says. Bob walks around the room and says, "Her bag and sword are gone too." Sasha presses her lips together and shakes her head then she goes back to the hallway and sits down on the top step. "Where do you think she went?" Bob asks the two of them. "Sasha does a quick chuckle then looks back at the two of them, "She went looking for something." "What?" Tyreese asks with a look of confusion on his face. Sasha looks down the stairs and says, "She went looking for her badass."

Sasha stands up and begins walking down the stairs, "Listen let's try and keep this to ourselves for a while. We don't want to upset everyone, especially Carl." "But what if Rick finds out or Daryl", Bob asks. Sasha get to the bottom of the stairs and starts to put on her jacket, "What the hell can we say, she grown would we have been able to stop her if we saw her leave?" Sasha opens the front door motioning the two to come on. "I know she'll be back as soon as she finds it."


	13. Chapter 13

The sun is in the position of late afternoon and Michonne begins to veer off the road a little bit to setup camp. She has been walking for hours she will lose the light in a couple hours and she knows that she has to find some place safe for the night. The sounds of thousands of insects and birds play in unison as she enters the woods. She remembers how she was able to stay alive out here alone. So she begins to hunt for a couple of walkers.

After walking deeper in the woods Michonne makes marks on some of the trees she pass by in order to make it back to the road in the morning. While marking one of the trees with her sword she hears a low hissing sound. Michonne stand completely still for a moment waiting to see if she hears some footsteps, the noise of the woods are louder than the low hissing sound. As the hiss gets closer she notices that the noise is coming from the ground. She looks down and sees a pile of leaves and branches moving but there is no wind. Michonne bends down a little closer to the pile of leaves only to notice that it's a snake slithering underneath. She almost forgot that these woods are littered with snakes.

Michonne stands back up and starts to look at the ground around her. Her attention is so completely obsorbed by the idea that she could get bit a snake instead of walkers that she doesn't see a roaming band of walkers coming up behind her. While slowly backing away from the snake she saw Michonne looks to her left and right and sees two walkers

Before her attack taking out four walkers would have been no trouble at all but, now she is nervous almost to the point of panic. She drops her satchel and pulls out her sword. The sword in her hands feels wrong to her somehow. She feels like her grip to strike down walkers is wrong, her footing feels awkward too.

Michonne decides that maybe it would be better to runaway this time instead of trying to kill them this time. She leans down and quickly grabs her satchel in order to run but another walker begins to lean over her back, just as she is about to stand up and run. She hears the walker hovering over top of her just as the walker is about to fall on her she rolls on the ground away from the walker but she is also face to face with the snake she was originally trying to get away from.

Michonne knows that she can't afford to make any sudden moves because of the snake but the four walkers are closing in and the one walker already on the ground is struggling to get back up. She leans up every so steadily so that she doesn't scare the snake as soon as she backs up she swings her leg at the two walkers closest to her making them fall to the ground One of the fallen walkers grabs her leg so she kicks it in the face cracking its skull in the process. She backs away from the walkers on her hands and feet, feeling the imminent danger right before her she forgets about running away now because there is no time. She manages to get on her feet and instantly unsheathes her sword slicing one of the walkers almost completely in half. Then she swings in the other direction and cuts another one from shoulder to hip.

Michonne starts to backup because now the other three walkers are on their feet again almost within arms-length of grabbing her when suddenly she feel something grab her long dreads preventing her from fight off the walkers in front of her. She starts panicking because she can't seem to release her hair from whatever is holding it.

Out of nowhere Michonne hears low zip thud sound in back of her and head is suddenly free. When she turns around to see what she what was holding her hair she sees Daryl, "Get down!" Michonne ducks down as Daryl shoots another arrow in the head of the walker that is just about to grab her.

After ducking out of Daryl's way she stabs the other two walkers in the head. "Chonne, what the hell are you doing out her?" Daryl says irritated that she would come out her alone. Michonne looks at him then grabs her satchel. Michonne puts her sword away and catches her breath, "I lost something." Daryl can tell by the tone in her voice and the look on her face that she was working something out on her own. So he shakes his head o.k. and walks over to her, Daryl wants to ask her if she is alright but decides against it he knows the last thing she would want to hear is him being overly concerned. "What are you doing out here?" she asks. Daryl walks over to the walkers to retrieve his arrows and says, "Hunting." He grabs all his arrows then turns around and asks, "Does Rick know that you are out here?" She looks at him with slight embarrassment then shrugs and shakes her head, "I don't know, I left this early this morning once everyone was out of the house." He nods another o.k. then he walks over to the hissing sound of the snake Michonne was worried about in the first place, he stomps his foot down on its head, takes his knife and cutes the body of the snake from its head. As he begins to walk back the way Michonne had originally came he swings the lifeless snake body and says, "Come on I got a camp about a half mile away. It'll be getting dark soon especially in these woods.

As Daryl and Michonne walk through the dense woods Daryl slows down and motions his hand to her to keep quiet. Then he points to the buck 12 yards away. Daryl readies his bow and shoots the buck in the base of his neck causing it to run off. "Shit! Come on he's wounded we should be able to track him."

They follow a trail of bright red blood on the ground, "He's bleeding pretty bad it shouldn't be too much further it looks like he's heading in the direction of my camp. As they get closer to his mini-camp Michonne sees that the road is not that far away. One of the trucks from the cul de sac is parked slightly off the road blocking the light coming from the Daryl's enclosed campfire. Michonne follows behind him as he turns to the left of the camp because that is where the trail of blood is going. Daryl starts walking lower and quieter in case they find the buck he asks her, "So what makes you think you will find what you lost out here?" "I don't know, I only know that I wasn't going to find in that room." Daryl turns around and motions to her, "Look." Michonne looks a little ways past Daryl and she can see the buck that he shot early laid on the ground dead. They both smile at one another, "And it's close to the truck" he says like it's icing on the cake. "Yea but how the hell are we gonna get that thing in the back of the truck?" She says. "We are gonna use that light-saber of yours and cut the som-bitch up." Michonne has a look of disgust on her face because she knows that it won't be easy and it will probably stink like hell". She sucks her teeth bit says with a smile, "Alright." He can see that she not to excited at the idea of cutting the buck up so he says, "Look at it this way, you may find what you lost in deer."

Michonne and Daryl cut buck up in three large pieces and place the pieces in the truck after a while they sit around the small campfire that Daryl kept going while out hunting. He picks up a couple more pieces of dry rotted branches to make the fire larger so Michonne and get some warmth out of it too. Daryl pulls the dead snake out of his back and starts to skin it. Michonne watches him as he pulls the skin away from the muscle of the snake. She turns her lips down as she hates the site of shedded snake skin and she wasn't crazy about dead snake skin either. Daryl looks over at her, "What? This is to gross for you?" Daryl chuckles, "Well you ain't got to eat to eat then." He says grinning. "Oh know the process is disgusting but I will definitely eat whatever you put in front of me cause I am starving", she laughs.

The woods are still the only noise is the crackling of the campfire and some howling wolves in the distance. Daryl and Michonne eat the snake meat in silence. He reaches in his bag and pulls out two bottles of water, he does a short whistle in her direction and throws one of the waters to her. Michonne looks up and catches the bottle with one hand and puts it down next to her. The two continue to eat.

When Michonne finishes eating she looks over at Daryl, "Listen, I want to tell you something and I don't want you to read anything in to it for the moment. Just listen. That morning that Carol died…I think I saw something but I can't say for certain yet. When everybody started moving in to the fields I was watching James, Jimmy and Eugene moving out in to the field too", She takes a deep breath and continues, "The grass was really high so it was really hard to keep the binoculars in focus but, I think saw Jimmy swing his axe at Eugene's leg causing him to fall to the ground that maybe why walkers got him. But what was even stranger was that Tara came running up to Jimmy and started yelling at him. All this was happening in the middle of trying to kills walkers mind you, then, I was trying to zoom out so I could get a larger view of what was happening and then Tara disappeared. Like she was never there, the only thing I saw after that was James and Jimmy killing the walkers in the field."

Daryl remains silent for a minute, "I never really cared for James and Jimmy too much, but I never tried to get to know them either. They just happened to luck out because their sister begged us to rescue them before we escaped Terminus", he says while covering up some of the campfire coals to dim the light for it a bit. "What do you think about Jane?" She asks. "I don't. She takes care of Judith while Rick takes care of the group. I mean she has a job in the group that seems to work right now. What do you see?" He asks. "I can't say I see anything either. What makes it worse…I mean you can see that Jimmy is quiet maybe even a little off. James seems to be normal enough but I don't understand how Jane can be so cheerfully all the time. So far we have yet to see any side of her other than the one." She says. "Could be she feels really blessed to have made out of Terminus with her two younger brothers, maybe she is glad that she still has some of her family still intact." Michonne looks over at Daryl as he stands up to kick some more dirt on the edges of the campfire, "Close your eyes." He tells her so she doesn't get any flying dirt in her eye.

We better get some sleep I am supposed to meet a couple of people from the cul de sac over at a rest stop on route 85 tomorrow. Its bout 25-30 miles east so we can do some scavenging once we get there.


	14. Chapter 14

Tyreese stops Bob and Sasha on the way down the block, "Look, we can't continue to leave each other out of the loop like this. I will let Rick know that Michonne must have left sometime yesterday." "No Ty,…" Sasha says while putting her hand on Tyreese's shoulder, "I'll tell him."

As they get down to the bottom of the block Sasha sees Rick talking with Tero, an old black man that had been living in the block long before the outbreak. Rick was listening to him closely because Tero was retired from the army corp of engineers. They were pointing down at the cracks in the ground were they were putting heavy pieces of spiked wood in the ground to slow up walkers if they tried to enter. "What going on?" Sasha asks in an interested tone. "Hey Sasha, Tero was telling me all this rain is saturating the ground beneath the asphalt. That's why our fortifications keep slipping out of place." Rick says. "Rick, I need to talk to you a minute", Sasha says.

Rick and Sasha move over toward a clean barrel of water. Rick dips his hands in to the water barrel and throws some water on his face, "So what's up, Chonne alright?" Rick asks. Sasha takes a deep breath and says, "Rick…she left." He stops wiping the excess water off his clean shaven face. He leans in closer as if he was heard of hearing, "What do you mean she left?" "Tyreese went in the room this morning just like we always do, to give her some food for the day while we are gone and, when he went in to the room she was gone. Her sword was gone and her bag." Sasha tells him.

Rick walks away from Sasha a little bit trying to take in the news about Michonne leaving without so much as a warning. He closes his eyes while gently rubbing his eye brows. "How long has she been gone, who saw her last?" Rick says with reserve in his voice. "The last time I saw her was yesterday morning, I, Maggie, Jane and Rosita went to talk to her yesterday about what happened and how she needs to communicate with us more." Rick looks at Sasha wanting her to continue, "What else did she say?" Sasha goes on to say, "She said that she was feeling better and that she has been working out like crazy in the room, but how she couldn't bring herself to leave it yet. She said that she wouldn't be any good to the group unless she was able to find something that was misplaced last month."

Rick recalls the conversation they had when he found out what happened to her. About regaining or repairing what she lost. "Rick, we wouldn't have been able to stop her even if we did see her leave." Sasha says walking over to him putting her hand on his shoulder. Rick knew Sasha was right they couldn't stop her if she wanted to go, he probably couldn't either. He wanted to go after her but she has a 24 hour head start, and he has no idea what direction she went in. "Rick, once she finds it she will be back." She says reassuringly. But Rick knew he would be able to concentrate on anything knowing she was out there alone.

Rick turns around to Sasha, "I can't stay here I have to try and find her, Where's Daryl?" Rick asks anxiously. "He left yesterday afternoon to go hunting." Sasha says with confusion, "Rick, you have no idea which way she went you'll get end up getting lost yourself." She says trying to get Rick to listen to reason, "No I won't, there's a run that happening today right?" He asks. Rick walks over to the group of workers, "Who is supposed to meet up with Daryl later today," He asks, "Me, I'm supposed to go meet up with him at some old rest stop on inner state 85 right outside the tourist town. It's about 15-20 miles out. Glenn was supposed to be going with me" Tero tells him.

"Alright, I'll go with you instead of Glenn", Rick says walking over to Glenn. Glenn looks confused so Rick waves him over as he walks quickly over toward Tyreese. Glenn does a light jog over to the two men, "What's going on?" Rick looks at Glenn and Tyreese, "Look, I am gonna go on this run, I want you and Tyreese to look out for the group, we don't want another incident like the one that happened last month with Chonne." Glenn, I want you and Maggie to keep Karl and Judith over your place until I get back." "What about Jane?" Glenn asks, "She can stay with her brothers over at Abe's. Ty, keep an eye on everybody because we are coming up short on fighters, so be vigilant." Rick tells the two.

"Tero, how long before we can leave," Rick says walking over to him, "Well we can leave right now the truck is ready to go." Tero tells him. Rick starts to run back up to his house to talk to Karl but yells out, "I will meet you there in 15 I need to grab some stuff." Rick opens the front door and immediately runs upstairs to the bedroom closet.

Karl hears the front door swing wide open then he hears his father upstairs in the bedroom closet. Karl rushes from the kitchen upstairs to the bedroom closet. "Dad what's wrong what's going?" Rick continues looking through closet without saying anything because he is apprehensive about how to tell Karl or if he should tell him that Michonne left the cul de sac. 'Dad what's wrong?!" Karl says again but this time in an angry tone. Rick grabs the machine gun and two full clips. He connects the machine to the gun strap and wraps it around his shoulder. Then he walks out and opens the dresser draw and pulls out his gun belt and his sheriff's pistol. "Dad", Karl repeats. He stops what he is doing and looks down at Karl, "Karl…Michonne left she didn't tell anyone where or why she just left. But look, I just found out and I am gonna go with Tero to find her. I will find her and I will try and bring her back, alright?" Rick goes back to strapping his gun belt on and checking his revolver making sure it's loaded then his slides it in to his holster. "Dad, you promise you'll bring her back right?" Karl asks, Rick puts his hand on Karl shoulder, "I'm going to everything in my power to bring her back Karl I promise you that. Now I want you and Judith to stay with Glenn and Maggie until I get back."

Jane come up stairs with Judith in her arms, "What's wrong, what going on?" Rick walks back in to the closet to get his jacket then comes back out, "Michonne is gone; I'm going to look for her." He says in hurry, "Karl and Judith are going to stay with Glenn and Maggie I want you to stay with your brothers over Abe's house. "But we can stay here; I will have my brothers' stay with us like before." Jane tells him as he rushes past her, "I was up the block when they did that. I don't want another incident like what happened with Michonne, now please pack up some stuff Judith Maggie will be here any minute." Rick says while going back down stairs.

Rick opens the door just as Maggie is about to knock. "Rick what's wrong?" she asks, "Michonne is gone I'm going to try and find her", he says moving past her in a rush. He turns back around, "I want you Glenn to keep Karl and Judith at your place until I get back. Tyreese is gonna watch out for the group. If problems come up let him know." Rick turns back around and runs down to Tero's SUV.

Rick and Tero are riding down the road toward the inner state 85 in silence. Rick is being a bit fidgety he keeps adjusting the gun strap on his shoulder and he keeps closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead. Tero is feeling a little uneasy because of Rick's jumpiness, "I hope Daryl was able to get something I really go for some venison." Rick nods his head at the same time ignoring what Tero just said. As they ride along road Rick sees some walkers on the side of the road in the distance, "Hey slow down a little" he tells Tero while trying to get a good look at some of the walkers. Rick doesn't see her, "Alright keep going."

"Say, Rick where is that stunning samurai been at? I haven't seen her since last month sometime." Tero says casually. She had been feeling well past few weeks." Rick says in a bothersome tone. "Oh, that's too bad, such a pretty girl and an excellent fighter with or without the sword." He says with a smile on his face that looks somewhat mischievous to Rick.

Rick starts to move his hand slightly toward his knife thinking that Tero might have something to do with Michonne's attack. "Why do you ask? You like her or something?" he asks curiously. Just when Rick is about to pull the knife out Tero says, "Yea…well I mean not like that. She reminds me of my wife. See my wife, Sheila, she was a fighter too. I met my wife in the service back during the Vietnam War. Sheila was tough like a..." Rick says, "Michonne", "Yea Michonne. My Shelia was just like her. Once everything started going to hell Shelia was right there to have my back. She was good with gun; well she was good with anything that could be used as a weapon actually. I had her back and she had mine. Sheila was always the constant soldier but she always made room to let me be a man and she let me be her man." Tero says while reminiscing.

Rick slides the knife back down in to the holster looks over at him and with interest asks, "What happened to her?" Tero huffs, "A few weeks before your group came to our block, she got killed by four of those things while on patrol one evening. The neighborhood heard gunfire but by the time we got to her she was already…"Tero gets choked up briefly, "…one them had bit her on the neck but she managed to put a bullet in the head of all four of those bastards. After she died I lost it for a little while then, I remebered something she told me a few nights before she died she said, 'I am not afraid of dieing. We were born to die, my biggest fear is that I sweated the small stuff too much instead of enjoying my time here you.' That was my girl, hardest women I ever met. But I guess I was lucky to have her around as long as I did given our situation." Tero laughs, "Neither one of us never knew which day would be our last so every time we…well you know it was extraordinary. You never know how much you care about someone until something threatens to take them away."

Rick was listening closely to what Tero was saying. He started to feel emptiness in his stomach. "But I am sure you already know what I am talking about, right? I mean you have managed to keep your family together your wife your kids even those two older boys, who they your brothers in laws? Tero asks. "Well actually no, she not my wife she's more of a nannie you could say." Rick says looking out the window as he looks at the sign for inner state 85. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry in to your business." Rick shakes his head in appreciation for the fact that Tero recognized he was being nosey. "Anyhow, that was why I was asking about Michonne." Tero takes a deep breath, any guy that could have a woman that strong and beautiful by his side would be pretty damn lucky.

Rick starts to think about him and Michonne back at Elysium and wondered if that was the reason it was so intense when he and Michonne are alone together. Neither one of them knew for certain if it would be the last time they would see each other. Anytime they're alone he is automatically drawn to her, always wanting to kiss her or touch her in anyway, there was always that sense of urgency with Rick when it came to being intimate with her.


	15. Chapter 15: Lost and Found

Chapter 15: Lost and Found

The next morning Daryl is awakened by light specks of rain falling through the trees in the dense woods. He gets up; walks over to the road to get a better view of the inner state skyline. He's gotten used to the gloomy everyday overcast but this time he can see in the distance a serious weather disturbance. As a result he runs back to the small camp where he and Michonne spent the night. "Michonne… Chonne, wake up we gotta go, there's one hell of a rain storm coming and we need to make to the rest stop so we'll have some shelter." He tells her while packing up camp.

As Michonne wakes up she feels the fat rain drops falling on face and shoulders from in between the trees and she sees how the blowing wind disturbs the dead leaves and twigs on the ground. In the distance she looks deeper in to the woods and she sees a couple of walkers trying to walk against the blowing wind from the impending storm.

They finally pile all the camping equipment in to the back of the pickup truck with the deer remains then; they urgently cover the flatbed with tarp and tie it down. Daryl looks at the empty inner state road behind them, in the distance he sees lightening coming from the dark clouds as they start to run into each other over the woods and the inner state skyline.

"Come on we gotta move now if we wanna out run this storm." Daryl says opening the driver side door. Michonne opens the passenger side but before she gets in she can also see the coming storm and lighten as well. She was used to the overcast skies and the rain that has been hovering over the cul de sac for weeks now. But this storm felt different, She knew this was the day that she was either going to find what she has been looking for or confirm that it was lost good. "I hope there are no twisters in that thing", she yells over the growing howling winds. Daryl starts the engine as she climbs in the truck.

Daryl zooms along I-85 with little ease from the weighty storms winds while Michonne watches the storm clouds gaining on them in her side view mirror. They pass by towering trees bending from the gusty storm winds, leaves and small dead branches fly along either side of I-85. Daryl continues to keep a close eye on the inevitable storm through the review mirror, he stops watching the road and mirror to glance at Michonne then looks out at the road, "So," he pauses, "Whatcha' looking for out here?" he asks. She continues to look out of her window in silence mainly because she really couldn't give him an answer so she says, "I lost something last month. I can't go back to the group until I find it." Daryl waits in silence for a few minutes, "What if you don't find 'it' anytime soon." he asks glancing at her and watching road up ahead. She looks at Daryl then back swirling leaves and dead tree debris in the her side mirror, "I'll just have to keep looking until I do." She answers him solemnly.

The sound of tiny bits of hail start to hit the hood of the truck and light drizzle begins to speckle the front and side windows when they see a sign, "Narrow Bridge Ahead". Just as Daryl begins driving across the narrow bridge the dark clouds are right on them removing all daylight from the sky and the inner state altogether, the storm they so desperately tried to out run was here and showed no signs of yielding.

As the commencement of the storm begins sheets of rain pour upon the truck, Daryl turns on the headlights and initiates more speed as he tries to get across the narrow bridge as fast as possible. Michonne sit ups in the seat and tries to look out the front window through the rapidly moving window wipers when he suddenly slows down then stops abruptly causing the truck to slide a little.

Both of them stare through the pouring rain as the headlights illuminates the bridge some yards ahead, they see the legs shadows of a small herd now alerted to their presence on the little bridge. The end of the bridge couldn't be any more than 30 yards away; any other time this size herd wouldn't worry Daryl while with Michonne but, he's concerned that she may not be ready for this type combat just yet. "I'm backing up, we will find another way to get to the rest stop" he says getting ready to shift the truck in reverse.

Michonne sees the small herd of walkers as they take notice of them in the truck; she already knows that going backwards on the narrow bridge would be a big mistake. More importantly, she knew this was where she needed to look in order to find what she lost.

Realizing what is about to take place she does a small laugh and rips one of her sleeve off and ties her dreadlocks up on her head ensuring that no-thing grabs her hair like it did the day before. The moment Daryl touches the stick shift to put the truck in reverse she grabs his hand and shakes her head and says, "No," she closes her eyes for two seconds and takes a deep breath, "What I am looking for is at the end of this bridge." Daryl watches through the headlights as the legs of the walkers get closer and closer to the truck. He turns to Michonne then shrugs his shoulders with a smile, "Fuck it, this is as good a day as any to die."

Michonne jumps out the truck and unsheathes her trusted friend and begins to cut down walkers in the thunder and pouring rain. She either decapitates them or cuts them in half by their torsos. As her and Daryl decimate the walkers on the narrow bridge Michonne feels the adrenaline rushing through her body and the familiar weight and movement of her katana in her hands, the memory of her sword skills come pouring back. She feels no reservation like she did when Daryl saved her the day before; there was no more flight in her only fight.

After they slaughter the troublesome walkers in the pouring rain they start to move their bodies out the way so the truck can get through. Daryl begins to walk over to the truck and just as he opens the door he sees Michonne standing on the bridge with her head tilt back, letting the rain wash away all the blood, guts, fear and doubt from her body. When Michonne finally stops to looks at the pile of walkers on either side of the bridge she chiburi's her sword and puts it away. Daryl smiles to himself knowing that she found what she lost last month when she was attacked but, it also made him at ease knowing that he was there to help her find it.

Daryl and Michonne ride in silence as they exit the narrow bridge in the heavy rain. After 10 miles they see the sign for the rest stop, "Suwanee Rest Stop 12 miles" right underneath it says, "Suwanee Trucker Central Lost and Found." As they ride past the sign for the rest stop the heavy rains slowly turn to moderate as the storm moves further up the road and some of the darkness in the sky is lifted, "Should we check out that lost and found once we get?" Daryl asks. Michonne watches as they pass by the saturated woods on the side of I-85, "No," she looks over at Daryl and with content in her tone says, "It was never lost, I just forgot where I put it." Daryl nods in agreement and they both go back to watching the road in comfortable silence.

Daryl and Michonne finally arrive at the rest stop. It is situated in the middle of the inner state so that you're able to enter and exit from the north or the south. They decide to enter from south which appears to lead to the rear of an abandon motel that was once useful to truckers when they needed to get some sleep after being on the road for hours. They see a couple of large rigs without the tractor trailers attached. Now that there is some daylight available Daryl turns off the headlights. He slowly creeps along the driveway trying not to disturb anyone or any-things. He decides to park the truck in the middle of the back driveway instead of the parking lot in case they need to make a quick get away because in any case if there are too many walkers coming at them he knows they can still out run them when it comes to getting back in to the truck to drive off. "Should we go check the joint out, see if there's anything good here while we wait?" He asks, Michonne. "Yea, why not it's better than sitting around doing nothing." She answers back. So they get out the truck and pull out a couple of bags from the flatbed.

After Tero got the hint about asking Rick about his business he decided to tell him about the issues with the fortifications in the cul de sac. For the past 25 years the state was supposed to come and install a drainage system so rain water wouldn't continue to wash away the concrete and soil beneath the block but it never happened. "It's possible to create a rudimentary drainage system so the rain water wouldn't sit at the bottom of the block." Tero tells Rick as they ride along the inner state to the rest stop. Rick half listens to what Tero is saying about the drainage system but he isn't really paying any attention to the solution to the constant slipping of the fortifications of the. All Rick is concerned about at this moment is where Michonne went and why would she leave without telling him.

In Rick's mind he refused to take responsibility for her leaving because every time he went to see how she was doing she refused to let him in or she just would answer the door at all. Whenever he thought about her refusal to let him in he would get angry. However the minute he would get angry he would suddenly remember that she was gone.

These endless thoughts seem to plague him with giving him great anxiety. "…so do you think your people would be willing to help? Rick? Are you even listening?" Tero asks. "Huh?" Rick says while snapping out of his overwhelming thoughts about Michonne. He fakes it, "Oh I'm sorry. I'm checking out that storm we seem to be heading toward" he says while pointing at the front window. "Yea I see it too. The stop isn't too much further we should make to the stop before it gets to us." Tero reassures him.

Once they reach the rest stop they pull in to the parking lot of a rundown diner that's attached to the trucker motel. A few yards across from the motel were a couple of abandoned strip clubs and taverns. Right next to that was a large gas station with a sign flapping in the wind that says, "No Gas".

Before they get out the SUV they grab their guns from the back seat, once they are out Tero goes around to the back; opens the hatch door and hands Rick a machete while he takes a blade tipped baton. As the two men begin to clear they walk over to the window of the diner to see if there are any walkers roaming around inside. Tero looks at Rick signaling him to get ready because he gonna tap on the window. Rick nods his head yes. When no walkers come to the window Rick says, "We can do a sweep later, let's check out that gas station."

When they get to the gas station they see that entrance door is broken and the shelves are pretty much empty. Tero goes over to the pumps to see if anything comes out. "Nothing." He says. "What a second?" Tero goes back inside the gas station store and looks for the emergency shut off valve. He sees that the valve has been turn off. He looks over at Rick, "Oh man, the valve has been shut off all this time. Maybe the Gods will take pity and allow some gas to come out by turning it back on." Rick smiles at Tero, "Well they haven't been taking too much pity on us so far. Maybe they aren't looking right now."

Tero turn the valve to the on position and they hear a loud clunk. Rick walks over to one of the pumps, squeezes the nozzle and a small trickle of gas starts to come out and then it stops. Suddenly gas shoots out the nozzle causing Rick to drop it from the sudden pressure. Rick laughs out loud, "Maybe they have taken pity on us." Tero smiles, "I'll take whatever hand they can give me." Tero begins to walk out of the gas station store when he sees a carton of generic cigarettes. "I gave them up years ago for my health, I guess it doesn't make a bit of difference now," he says under his breath. So he rummages through the back counter for some matches then grabs the carton of smokes.

The storm clouds are moving in closer to the rest stop so both men walk back over to the motel entrance and sit on the benches underneath the awning of the motel front entrance. The two start to talk about the old world the things they used to complain about back then, paying taxes, the wars over oil, the last football game they saw. Then the two go silent. As the rain starts to fall Rick stumbles right back in to worrying about Michonne and whether or not she back at the cul de sac or if she is somewhere exposed to the current down pour that they were in.

Rick starts to get angry and anxious again. Tero sees his demeanor change and looks at Rick while taking a puff on his cigarette, "What wrong man, this has been a good day so far. Don't complain the Gods don't like that." Tero says with a small chuckle. Rick looks over at him then he stands up. Rick was never one to unload his problems on a complete stranger but he considered the fact that he was able to share the memories of his with Sheila so he says with a heavy sigh, "It's Michonne, she left sometime yesterday and I want Daryl to hurry up and come back so we can find her." "Well, which way did she go…" Tero continues to sit but leans in on his knees, "…do you know?" Rick in an exasperated voice says, "No, I don't know and every second that we waist here her trail gets cold, damn it!" Tero looks at Rick with one squinted eye then he smiles and shakes his head and says, "Oh…I see." "See what?" Rick answers annoyed by his presumption. Tero leans back against the bench; shrugs his shoulders and with closed mouth grin says, "Nothing." Rick doesn't like the patronizing look that Tero is giving him. Rick shakes his head at Tero, "It's…complicated." Tero holds his hands up as if to say it's not his business. Rick rolls his eyes and begins to pace out in the parking lot as the rain starts to settle in.

The storm is releasing volumes of rain down over the entire rest stop. Rick can't keep still, he sits on the bench opposite Tero's then he walks out in to the parking lot hoping to see Daryl coming down the road. Tero has fallen asleep on the bench as it rains then he wakes up due to the crackle of thunder. When Tero jumps from the sound of thunder he sees Rick standing in the rain looking for Daryl. Tero shakes his head and laughs to himself. "Rick, what are you doing don't you know that you never find what you want if you keep looking for it?" Rick ignores Tero's comment.

Tero pulls another smoke out of the carton lights it, "I always found civilians use of the word 'complicated' fascinating. In the core complicated hold more meaning. Complicated is figuring out how to avoid snipers or move pass enemy lines without being detected. Or how to stop the bleeding of a gunshot wound. But civilians make up complications. Now you say that the woman in the block is simply a nannie nothing more and yet your only concern at this moment is 'Where's Daryl', so the two of you can go out and find Michonne?" Rick says, "Yea she's a vital member of our group we'll be weakened without her." He yells back. Tero keeps silent for a while seeing that Rick is almost in a state of panic.

The rain begins to slow down to a light drizzle. Rick comes back under the awning and sits down he's soaking wet and flustered to say the least. Tero sees that Rick is attempting to get a grip on his composure so now he feels that maybe Rick will hear what he has to say this time, "Listen, I don't pretend to know your relationship with Michonne, but what I can say is that you just spent most of you time at this rest stop pacing back and forth waiting in the rain for Daryl to get here so the two of you can go and find someone that you have absolutely no idea what direction they went in…the way I see it there is nothing complicated about how you feel about Michonne…I am just saying." Tero laughs.

Rick looks at Tero hard then stands up in a huff, "Look I'm gonna check around back maybe he came in through the other entrance." Rick leaves Tero there in the front of the motel in order to calm down but, Rick is mainly upset because he knows that Tero is right.

Just before Rick reaches the back of the motel he sees Daryl coming around the corner with a bag on his should and his crossbow. "Daryl! Where the hell have you been man?" Rick yells at him. He runs up to him, "I have been waiting on you for hours." Daryl jerks his head back, "What's wrong?" he asks. Rick places his hand on his mouth trying to calm his sense of urgency, "Michonne left sometime yesterday, I've been waiting for you to get here so we can go find her."

Daryl looks at Rick feeling a little embarrassed and also a little bit jealous because he can tell that Ricks nose is wide open over Michonne. Daryl shakes his head and looks down at his crossbow, "No, Rick she good. She's alright." Rick looks at Daryl confused so he walks him back around the corner. As Rick turns the corner with Daryl he sees Michonne chiburing her sword from two straggling walkers she just killed.

Michonne looks behind her then, while putting her sword away she yells, "A Daryl we should clear the top floor…" she looks up and sees Rick standing next Daryl and starts smiling ear to ear.


	16. Chapter 16: Reservations

Jane closes the door as Maggie and Karl walked away from the house. Although Karl had gotten used to the routine with Jane he was never truly invested in her. He went along with the situation because that was what his father wanted. However, Karl thought it would be good for Judith to interact with other members in group besides Jane.

As Karl walked with Maggie and Judith he noticed how happy Maggie was helping Judith walk up the block. Most of the time Maggie was busy fortifying the block, killing walkers or up under Glenn. So babysitting would be a nice change in her day to day activities.

"How long do you think my Dad will be gone?" Karl asked Maggie. "One or two days…maybe", she responded while picking Judith to carry her the rest of the way. Karl adjusted the bag he was carrying on his shoulders, "Why do you think Michonne left like that?" Maggie knew that Karl and Michonne were very close. She also knew that Karl was still a kid and that he may not understand Michonne's reason for leaving suddenly. Maggie stopped walking and looked over at Karl, "People deal with traumatic events in many different ways. I think that she had to..." Maggie switches Judith from one arm to another, "…she had to clear her head. The only way for her to do that was to leave for a little while." She gave him a warm smile, "But I promise you she'll be back and she'll be o.k." The three continue walking up the block, "This'll be nice, like a slumber party." Maggie says cheerfully to Judith. Karl looks over at two girls then he smiles with slight repulsion and says, "Girls."

Jane walks in to the kitchen after they left. She was upset that once again Michonne managed to steal her family away. She also knew that Michonne managed to get out of that room, which meant that she was getting her strength back physically and emotionally. However, she also knew that Michonne was actually more sensitive than what everyone believed.

Jane walks in the kitchen toward the cabinet where she keeps her blades. She closes her eyes and places her hand on the cabinet door with reluctance. Slowly, she began to open the cabinet door and grips the sharp part of one of the blades. As her grip around the blade got tighter blood began to trickle down her arm. Jane watches the blood as it rolls down her arm and on to the floor.

Jane was brought out of her trance by a knock at the door. She quickly grabs a dish rag and wraps her hand. She begins walking toward the door shaking her head back in to reality, when she opens the door she sees Jimmy at the door. "I-I'm here to help you back some stuff and bring you up the block", he looks down at his feet then up at Jane and her wrapped hand. "Come on in", she tells him walking toward the stairs.

A little while later Jane comes back down with a couple of bags, her hand now properly bandaged she looks over at Jimmy sitting on the futon. She notices Jimmy sitting nervously on the couch, "What's wrong Jimmy?" He looks over at her nervously, "Jane, I am really sorry about what I did at Terminus…" he pauses then he gets up and walks over and grabs both bags, "I don't think I can keep plotting to get rid of her. These are good people. I don't want us to end up out there on our own again." He says looking out the living room window.

Jane always knew that Jimmy was weak but she detected guilt and regret in his voice. "Jimmy there is nothing that I wouldn't do to keep you and James safe." She walks over to the front door, "I would've thought that after what the two of you did and what I did to keep the two of you safe at Terminus your undying loyalty wouldn't waver whenever I asked you for your help. Once we get rid of her we will have a family unit. Rick will make sure to keep all of us safe." She walks over to Jimmy, "I have always had our best interests in mind when it comes to living in this horror. You need to trust me and do what I ask when I ask, o.k.?" Jimmy looks at the coldness in her face and begins to walk out the door, "You do forgive us right Sis?" he says to her with watery eyes. She walks over to her younger brother, and hugs him. While hugging him she whispers in his ear, "Someday I will…but not today."

When Jane releases Jimmy he looks at her confused. In his mind the mistake that he and his brother made was truly an honest mistake. His sister shouldn't continue to hold this horrendous mistake over their heads. But Jimmy already knew that he wasn't that clever, he always listened to her and James because of it. Nevertheless something in him knew trying to get rid of Michonne was wrong.

Jane and Jimmy walk up the block in silence, once they reach the house Abe opens the door, "Hi, I hear you are going to be staying with us awhile under the orders of Sheriff Rick Grimes." Abe says sarcastically while eyeing her up and down. Jane puts on her most seductive look, "Well Abe," she says while walking past Jimmy, "I know that my staying here is probably an incredible inconvenience." She walks in and over to Abe holding the door open for them, "I am sure you will make use of my time." Jane walks further in to and looks around, "So where will I be staying?" She looks up the stairs and sees at Rosita staring at her. "Oh, well it took a little maneuvering but arrangements were made so you can sleep in my room." Abe says making sure to put emphases on his room.

Jane looks back at Rosita at the top of the stairs then she does a tiny smile of victory, "Thank you." Rosita walks down the stairs staring at Jane. When Rosita gets to the last step she looks over at Abe hurt at the fact that he considers Jane more valuable than her, then she walks out the front door past Jimmy.

Once Jane get in to Abe's room she sits down on the bed momentarily. Abe walks in and shuts the door. Jane gets up from the bed and starts to go through her bags. "I have been dying to get you back in to my room. I just hope that you wanna be here as much as I want you here." Abe tells her as he stands over her pretending to look for something.

Jane starts to feel a queasy in her stomach, she begins to feel slightly light headed. She quickly stands up, runs out the bedroom in to the bathroom. Violently vomits in to the toilet. In the mists of vomiting she realizes that she hasn't seen her period in a while. She hasn't seen it since before her persuasion of Abe a month earlier. She looks in to the mirror with her eyes red shot, her mouth desperately holding on to drool from her last vomit. When she sees herself in the mirror she starts to smile. Jane realizes that she has found a way to get rid of Michonne once and for all.


	17. Chapter 17: Promises

Rick stares at Michonne in disbelief that she has been safe with Daryl for the past 24 hrs. He closes then pinches the corner of his eyes and shakes his head, "How did you find her," he gritted. "She fell down in the woods while trying to get away from a few walkers," Daryl said in a low voice as Michonne begins to walk toward them. With apparent doubt in his voice Rick says, "Get away from…" Daryl interrupts him as she gets closer, "Yea, I'll tell you about it later." Rick gives Michonne a stern gaze then walks over to meet her.

Daryl could tell by the touchiness in Rick's voice that he's pretty pissed off so he continues around the corner. As he finishes reloading his crossbow he looks up and sees somebody walking toward him so he readies his weapon and looks through the scope. He lowers the bow a little, "Tero, What the hell are they doing let you out of the retirement home", he jokes. "Babysitting you minors," Tero mocks back. The two embrace like old war vets. Daryl had spent time with Tero on night patrols of the cul de sac from time to time smoking weed and swiping war stories, Tero's Vietnam stories and Daryl's walking dead stories.

Tero looks around the corner and sees Rick and Michonne having what looks like a heated discussion. He turns to Daryl, "Why do you kids make simple shit so complicated" he says while strolling back over to Daryl, "Ya'll aint got time for that shit no more." Daryl laughs, "I know that's fo' sho!" Come on young-blood let me find you a drink at that fucked up nudie bar across the street." Tero laughs.

Michonne walks closer to Rick, judging by the look on his face she sees he's pretty upset with her. She loses her grin and stops short of meeting him and rolls her eyes as he gets closer. Rick approaches and circles her looking as though he's really angry with her but he's looking to see if she has any cuts or bruises on her body, specifically her neck. The last time he saw her up close was the day after the surgery Bob and Sasha did on her thigh. After that day she refused to see him.

Michonne looks at him confused "What are you doing Grimes?" she asks now irritated that he hasn't spoken yet. "What am I doing?" He asks, "What the hell was that? Running off with no word to anybody is unacceptable." "Unacceptable…" she says indignantly then, she stops and calmly says cynically, "Well as pleased as I am to see you I never liked being reprimanded in public, so perhaps we could do this later." And she walks over to where Tero and Daryl were.

Rick watched Michonne walk away. He didn't mean to be so angry with her but she didn't seem to understand how concerned he really was over her missing from the cul de sac. He was pacing in the rain over her, wondering where she was and if she was alright. He takes a couple of seconds to regroup and walks over toward everyone else.

"Hey where are the two of you going off to?" Michonne yells. Tero and Daryl turn around, "We're on our way to the nudie bar to find some drinks, your welcome to come but I doubt you'd be comfortable there." Tero tells her as she walks closer. "As long as I don't have to do a pole dance for a drink I'm good." She teases.

"Ah…hold up," Rick catches up to the three, "Before everybody goes to happy hour, maybe we should do some work and clear a couple more of these rooms to sleep in for the night. There's a lot of ground to cover in order to look for supplies so we'll need to hold up here for at least one night." He tells them. Daryl pokes his lips out a little and looks at Tero, "Rick, always the constant voice of reason. Yea, let's get this work out the way first." Tero shrugs his shoulders, "Alright." Michonne turns away in silence and begins to walk toward the outside stairs that lead to the second floor.

Daryl bangs on the door of one the rooms and hears that sound that all four of them dread the most. "Aight, when I kick it in it'll stir up everything on this floor and below," Daryl whispers as a warning for the group to be prepared for anything. He kicks the door in and instantly two walkers start coming straight for him. He loses his balance and lands on the bed. Rick quickly bashes one walker with the bat Tero gave him earlier and Michonne decapitates the other one then stabs it in the head. Daryl gets up from the bed, "Damn, I'll need a couple of shots to shake that shit off."

The room feels stuffy and stench of rotting walker flesh is strong. Rick walks over to the bathroom to check for lingering walkers and to tries the light switch with no luck. He reaches for the room door that leads to the inside corridor.

He cues them to stay quiet while he knocks on the door for roaming walkers in the corridor. When he knocks on the door he doesn't hear any activity, in fact he doesn't hear anything, so he begins to open the door slowly and ventures in to the corridor.

Rick looks down both sides seeing that they're in exactly in the middle. Daryl softly walks up close behind him. Rick turns around and does a quick glance at Michonne still in the room with Tero, "Look, me and Chonne' will check the rooms down the right side you and Tero can check out the left. Daryl quickly got a sense that Rick wanted to be alone with Michonne so he shakes his head in agreement then motions Tero to follow him.

Michonne starts walking down the corridor; Rick walks behind her from a distance using the light from window at the end of the hall to outline her shadow. As watches her he now realizes he can see the nape of her neck and how perfectly shaped her neck is. Even with the sword on her back he felt she could've been the symbol of any warrior goddess.

He continues watching her shadow as she walks the corridor gracefully lending her ear to each door to see if she hears walkers. Finally she stops at a door that didn't have any noise; she looks over at Rick then points to the door.

As Rick approaches Michonne's door pick, she folds her arms across her chest and leans her shoulder against the wall waiting for him to kick the door in. He stares at her for second then hands Michonne his bat and grabs both sides of the door jambs. Before he kicks the door in he looks over at Michonne and says, "Listen, I'm sorry about how I acted toward you earlier." Once he kicks the door open you could hear the walkers stirring the other rooms.

He walks in and does a quick survey. Michonne walks in behind him and sees some luggage in the corner of the room. As she walks further in she sees a child's pinwheel next to the luggage, blood has been splattered against the window and walls. A flood of memories rush back about what happened to Andre' and her emotions briefly take hold. So she walks out of the room in hurry in order to maintain her composure.

When Michonne walks back out she leans against the wall in an attempt to collect herself. Rick follows her out, "You alright?" She kneels against the wall a little shaken and says, "Yea, I'm alright. Just make sure you grab the luggage out of there." Rick stands over her and extends his hand to help her up. He knew that she carried a weight on her shoulders similar to the one he had carried for Judith before he found her alive. Michonne grabs his hand and pulls herself up, "Let's take care of the other rooms." Rick says hoping to sustain her for the duration of the clearing. Once she is on her feet she snatches her hand away and starts walking toward some of the other rooms. He looks at her vexed as to why she is still upset after he apologized.

Daryl looks down the corridor and sees Rick offering his hand to help Michonne up, but after she makes her way up she snatches her hand back. He always felt there was something going on between Rick and Michonne but he has no idea exactly how intense that something was. Tero casually walks over to Daryl, "What's up?" Daryl shakes his head, "Nothing. Let's take care of the rest of these rooms", and he starts to walk to another room door.

Daryl and Tero finish with the left side and start walking to the middle. Rick and Michonne still have a few more to check out so Rick tells her he'll be right back and walks over to Daryl and Tero. "What's up?" Rick asks. "Well we're finished with our side we saw some things we could use, some rooms to hold us over for the night. Tero said that there's a gas station that's good so we're gonna try and find some supplies and food in the diner and those bars." Daryl tells him. "Alright we will be finished in little bit, Tero you your packing right?" Rick asks. "Hell yea", Tero shows him his Mossberg. Rick says, "Good if you get in any trouble I should be able to hear it from it being so quiet around here.

Daryl looks over Ricks shoulder a bit then nods his head a little looking at Michonne then looks back at Rick, "Everything alright?" "Everything is fine; I just want to talk to her for a minute to find out why she left is all." He tells Daryl reassuringly. Daryl shakes his head and they give each a roman handshake and Daryl and Tero leave.

Once Rick and Michonne finish clearing the empty rooms they could find she starts walking toward the lobby steps, Rick quickly grabs her hand and pulls her in to one of the empty rooms. When they get in he pushes her against the door and kisses her fervently. Unable to resist his fiery kiss she quickly wraps her arms around his neck adding energy to the stale undisturbed motel room.

After a few seconds he pulls himself out the kiss, throws his bat to the floor and walks over to the window and open the curtains on the window to let some light in, then sits down on the bed. "Why, why would you just leave like that Chonne? Back at the prison I had to accept your reasons for leaving out days on end. But that's not the case now; you said you were done taking breaks, right?" Rick asks.

Michonne walks over to the motel dresser and drops her bag on the floor and lays her sword on top and heavily sighs, "At first I was alright in that room at Bob and Sasha's place, I was healing from the surgery…" she pauses "…but after a while it became my jail. I started working out like crazy; I didn't want to see anyone. I was punishing myself because of the attack. Every day I stayed in that room I grew weaker and more afraid of what was out there. You of all people know if you plan on staying alive you can't be weak," Michonne pauses to look at Rick's reflection in the mirror, "So I left…I had find to my nerve, I had to find that 'thing', that has been keeping me alive all this time."

Rick rubs his forehead for a minute in order to calm down then looks at Michonne's reflection in the mirror quiet from her response. She begins to feel the quiet in the room from his stare, so she begins to untie her ponytail. "No…wait." Ricks blurts out, "No…leave it," he pauses then says, "It makes you look…regal." He could always see her beauty but now there wasn't anything to distract him away for her copper diamond eyes and her ambrosial lips.

Michonne slowly drops her hands down by her side and began to get butterflies in her stomach; she hadn't heard a compliment like that since years before the pestilence began. Feeling the charge of energy slowly invading the room they quickly look away from one another's reflection in the mirror.

In an effort to diffuse the pressure in the room she grabs her bag off the floor and pretends to be looking for something in it. "Rick, I meant to ask why you are so soak and…" she realized what she was about to say but she continued to look down in her bag, "…wet." Rick looked back at her reflection then at her statuesque neck. He stands up and slowly walks over to her, "I was standing out in the storm pacing the parking lot over you," he tells her.

Rick walks up behind her and pulls one of her arms out of her bag. The minute Rick touches her, she is immediately wound up. Every sense in her body is heightened tenfold and the room starts to get very warm. She looks at their reflection in the mirror and sees that he is actually taller than her. He removes his hand from hers and wraps it around her stomach and pulls her in tight causing her to become even more debilitated to his advances. She closes her eyes and bits the corner of her bottom lip hoping to turn down her thirst for him.

Rick whispers, "So did you find what you were looking for out there?" placing soft pecks on the nape of her neck. Michonne was drowning in the kisses he placed on her neck. She closes her eyes while biting her bottom lip again and says, "No, I never lost it." She looks in the mirror and she reaches her arm back to rub his hair while he continues to kiss her neck and shoulder, "I just forgot..," she pauses a moment overcome by desire, "…where it was. It was dormant", she pauses again to tongue kiss him then looks in his sea blue eyes and says, "It was deep inside of me."

Michonne continues kissing him with the same fire as they did when they first came in to the room. Rick reaches down for her crotch causing her to moan softly, "Promise you won't leave again, promise you won't leave without telling me," he whispers. With every pass of his hand over her covered labia she gyrates against his thickness; "Promise?" he whispers again.

With the heat that's coming off of Rick and Michonne and the stale static air the two feel the fullness of the trucker motel room. As their kiss gets heavier, Rick places his hand inside her moistness and pulls her in closer with his other arm causing the intense pulsating of her clitoris. She craved how he teased her and his requirement of her to quietly submit to him. Rick looks at their reflection. As he watches as every movement of his hand on her warmth, she quickly became willing to do whatever he commands. She barely manages to speak in between her heavy breathing, "I-I promise".

She starts to remove her shirt and her bra so that she can feel his rough callus hands on her breasts. Bringing his hands to her firms breast with those icy hard nipples. Suddenly in a burst of lust Rick unsnaps her pants and pulls her pants and panties down to her knees. He unzips his pants releasing the member he knew she needed. He leans her over the dresser and, within seconds he slides his organ in to her causing them both to moan with quiet pleasured relief. He gently works her breasts never neglecting the pinching of her chocolate tips, as he continued to dip playfully in and out of her.

Michonne clutches the back of the dresser in an attempt to control her yearning for him. He lifts her up and grabs one of her shoulders pulling her in to his powerful thrusts to establish who is in charge then; he pulls her back up by her regal neck arching her back against him while he nibbles on ear and lightly licks her nape. He slows down his charge to make sure she is compliant with his rules which only ignited the blaze in her more for what he has for her.

Rick never wanted to climax before her, maybe at the same time but never before. For the time being it was the only way he could control her. So he worked this advantage whenever he could. As he reached for her moist slit again he sped up his thrusts then removed himself just to torcher her a little more then slowly slides back in. She begins to inhale gulps of air and shakes her head no because she's wants more time before she peaks. "Please… Rick no please, I'm not ready." She whimpers desperately.

Rick teasingly smirks as he watches her try to prevent the explosion in her, "Yes…yes…come on Chonne…, you know can't hold out any longer," he whispers in ear while driving deeper inside of her. He feels her hollow closing tighter and tighter suddenly her flood gates rushes open widening for everything his sword has to give to her.

When he feels the river of her essences and the quivering of her body embracing all of him, it signals Rick to release his nectar as well causing them both to falls limp on the dresser from the pleasure of consciousness that they thought would never happen again. Witnessing that Michonne is spent, Rick lifts up and plants soft kisses her the nape of her neck again then the small of her back, while the walkers in the adjoining rooms clamber to get in.

As their synergetic romp slowly comes to a close they dress in silence. Michonne grabs her sword while Rick picks up his bat. Right before Michonne reaches for the door he place his hand on hers, "I know your better now and you're good to go but, I want you stay with us. Close to me", Rick tells her. "Rick," she says widening her eyes from surprise then she softly grabs his scraggly beard, and kisses him, "I told you we will be whether I am near or far away you will feel me there." Rick forgets his reserve and grabs her hand and kisses it then starts to kiss her again. Michonne stops kissing him, "But I can't stay under the same roof as another lioness. I told you, while you were deep in me I promised to tell you if I should ever decide to leave again." She graciously reassurces him.

Rick stops her from opening the door, "No, I want you to stay with us…Me, Karl and Judith." "What about Jane?" Michonne asks. "Maybe I will ask her to just take care of Judith during the day so we can take care of the day to day operations." He tells her.

Michonne loses the admiration for him in her face, "Like I said there can be no 'maybe' when it comes to sleeping under the same roof." He wraps his arm around her waist, pulls her in close and they share a soft and tender kiss, "…I feel...Karl feels better knowing you are close by." She kisses him again passionately then pats him on his chest with her hand, "O.k., just give me a day or two to think it over."


	18. Chapter 18: The Baby Factor Part 1

Chapter 18: The Baby Factor

Jane regains her composure after having a violent episode of vomiting in Abe's bathroom. As she walks out of the bathroom she spots Jimmy standing in the doorway of his bedroom as if he was listening to her in bathroom. "What's wrong Jimmy? I'm alright." she claims. Jimmy finds it hard to hide the contempt he feels toward his sister so he walks down stairs and out the front door.

Abe comes out of his bedroom putting on his fatigue jacket, "Hey Sunshine, you feeling alright" he asks. "Yea, it was probably something I eat last night." She answers. "Oh, well I am off to work," Abe walks over to Jane and grabs her behind and squeezes it tightly causing her to become nauseous all over again from his lack of decorum, "I will see you later," As he walks down the stairs she remembers that Rosita usually stays in Abe's bedroom, "What about Rosita?" "What about her? She's only there to…keep me…preoccupied until you come around", he replies as he's walking down the step and out the front door.

Jane starts to walk down the steps when she observes James standing on the wall of the foyer. "Jane…" He steps over to the bottom of the stairs, "…I said that we will help you with this. This can get done without us destroying everyone in the group, these people took us in. They will get over losing Michonne as long as there's no drama going on within the rest of the group."

Jane gracefully glides down the rest of the stairs with an icy rage in her eyes and her teeth clenched together, "I know that you are my brother but, if you don't fix this problem soon I will find a way to make you and Jimmy wish you had died in that hell hole with the rest of those baby eating cannibals." In a matter of seconds all the rage and tension leaves Jane's face as she walks past him and in to the kitchen.

Jane always knew how to hurt brothers, even when they were kids she never really had any real sentiment for them. Her brothers have been holding on their lives for the day when she would finally show some adoration toward them as they always did for her.

Meanwhile next door…

Carl sits in the tiny living room of Glenn's house and watches as the young newlyweds play with Judith. He notices how lighthearted they are around his sister, but Carl already knew his sister had the power to cheer up anybody in any room. Glenn and Maggie hadn't seen very much of Judith since arriving at the survivor cul de sac. On the other hand, they also hadn't noticed how long it has been since being around her either because every day they were working. They were either, gardening, patrolling or fortifying the neighborhood. As Carl watches the young adults he reminisces about his mother and when she was alive…long before the turn.

For Carl, life in the old world felt like fading daydream rather than a past as recent as 2 or 3 years ago. On the day his father was shot all he could recall was the huge argument that his parents had that morning. He remembered that miserable empty feeling he had when his mother dropped him off at school that morning, wandering if his parents would get a divorce. Later that same afternoon, when he got out of school, his mother told him about his father being shot in the line duty.

Ever since that day, Carl's entire life (as well as the entire world) had become one chaotic disastrous event after another. But for now, He decided to imagine he was watching old home movies of himself as a toddler playing with both his parents…a time before the world became walking dead.

"When are the two of you gonna have baby?" Carl asked. Glenn and Maggie glance at each other startled by his question. "Where is that coming from Carl?" Glenn answers back a little confused as to where this conversation is coming from or where it's going. "I mean you guys are married now right? Isn't that what people do once they get married", Carl asks. Maggie looks over at Glenn with one brow raised and a smirk on her face anxiously awaiting Glenn's response to the question.

Maggie has been ready to have a baby since they were at the prison. But Glenn was very apprehensive about bring a life in to this world. He feared the responsibility involved with taking care of a family. He knew all too well how hard it was to travel on the road with a baby but more importantly he remembered what happened to Lori while giving birth to Judith and wasn't willing to take that same chance with Maggie no matter how much she wanted a child of her own.

"When things settle down in the world we will." Glenn tells him. Maggie looks over at Glenn and gives him a sort of melancholy smile; "I am going to go put Judith down for a nap." And she walks upstairs. Glenn watches Maggie as she takes Judith upstairs then turns around to Carl, "Come on Carl let's see what's going on with the fortifications for the day."

Later that morning Glenn and Carl come back to the house and find Jane and Maggie sitting in the living room talking and playing with Judith, "Oh, hey Jane." Glenn says. Carl walks in behind him and sees Jane in the living playing with his sister. "Hi guys." Jane says in a cheerful tone. "Maggie a couple us are gonna go on a run over to True Value to see if there's any sediment or concrete for that gap that keeps sinking those booby traps every time it starts to rain. It's only a mile maybe two. It shouldn't be too much trouble." He tells her.

Jane recalls a rundown drug store across the street from the hardware store. "Oh, I'll go with you guys, I haven't left this block in I don't know how long. Let me get my bag from next door." She tells Glenn. "Alright, Carl you stay here with Maggie and your sister until I get back." Glenn tells him while holding the door open for Jane. Maggie walks over to the door with Judith in her arms and gives Glenn a kiss, "Be careful out there."

Abe, Glenn, James, Jimmy and Jane pile in to one of the last vehicles left and head over to the True Value. Once they get there, Abe does a circle around the store to see if there are any herds hanging around. Beyond the parking lot of the hardware store there was nothing but over grown grass and huge trees that seem to be thriving now that there are less human being around.

He parks in front of one of the loading docks in the back of the store. Everyone gets out and the four men head toward the ramp of the loading dock. Jane grabs Jimmy's arm, "Hey would you guys be alright if I stole Jimmy away to help me scout out the drug store across the street?" she asks. For some reason right away James tells her, "No. Just wait for us to finish up here and we can all go together."

Jimmy looks over at James offended, "She'll be alright if I'm there", he tells his brother. "Then I will go with you guys", and James starts to walk toward them. "No James you stay with them they will probably need your help getting all that concrete" Jane says with a smile.

James turns to look over at Jimmy and breathes a heavy worrisome sigh then places his hand firmly on his brother's shoulder, "Jimmy…" he pauses for a second then with great reluctance says, "…watch your back little brother…for anything." Jimmy shakes his head with a confused look on his face. "Don't worry James; I'll take care of my little brother." Jane says grinning and tilting Jimmy's head in order to kiss his forehead then they head across the parking lot to the drug store.

Abe and Glenn walk inside the rundown hardware store as James watches his youngest brother and his older sister walk further away from him toward the drug store. He was never one to be spooked by anything or anyone with the exception of his sister.

James looks up and watches the menacing storm clouds move across the sky, he has this increasing feeling of dread that this would be the last time he would see his siblings together again. He quickly comes to terms with this horrid outlook, turns around and grabs a small store flatbed and rolls it in to the store.

As Jane and her younger brother walk toward the drug store Jimmy turns to her and says, "You have your mini machete right?" Jane holds it up, "Yep its right here." The two continue on in silence through the drug store parking lot. Jimmy crouches down a bit to see if there are any walkers hidden in between or in back of the abandon cars. Jane checks the cars on the other side.

"Jimmy, do you remember when Mommy didn't pay the electric bill that time right around Christmas when you were little?" she asks. "Which Christmas", he chuckled. Jane laughs, "The one when father Lucas came to the house and told us that Mommy was locked up for stabbing your Dad in the chest." Jimmy stops and looked at her momentarily, "No. I thought she was locked up for stabbing that guy she was dating." She tilts her head pitifully and smiles looking as though she was about to explode with laughter, "No silly, she was locked up for killing yours and James's father. He said that he was filing for custody for the both of you. So I told her that I she shouldn't let him come in and break up her family. I told her she should do whatever she had to in order to stop him." Jane says.

With little to no regret she goes on to laugh and say, "I mean, I had no idea that she would kill him, she may have taken what I said too far", she snickers and shakes her head, "Crazy Mommy." Jimmy quickly absorbs what she has just told him and continues to walking, it was at that point he says sadly, "Well, I suppose it doesn't even matter now, he's probably dead anyway." "Oh know he has been dead. He died from the stab wound. She stabbed him straight through the heart with an ice pick. That's how she ended up in the asylum and we ended up living with Father Lucas, that disgusting pedophile." She tells him in that same a casual tone.

Jane keeps walking at the same pace but Jimmy stops again to watches her walk toward the drug store door.

He can't believe what she has just told him and how she told him. It was as though she was gossiping about someone else's life and family, someone she had absolutely no feeling for or a connection with. She fails to even notice that he has stopped walking with her.

James and Jimmy adored their father when they were little. Their father had promised to one day to have them stay with him permanently as soon as he found nice home with good schools in the area. By the time Jimmy was in the 3rd grade his father was coming around to pick the brothers up every weekend. Then one day he stopped coming. Jimmy and James were devastated and no one ever told them why their father stopped coming around until today. It was at this point that Jimmy finally realized that Jane was a loathsome heartless human being and completely unconscious to the hurt that she caused to the people around her. He understood that she had no love or compassion for him, his brother James…anybody.

Jimmy begins to walk again when he sees three walkers coming from around the back of the drug store but the walkers haven't seen them yet. He runs toward Jane and pushes her against the opposite side of the wall from the emerging walkers and covers her mouth with his hand. They watch in silence as the few walkers veer off down the main road. Jane removes his hand from her mouth, "Come on let's get in and out of here."

The automatic door glass, (along with door), is broken so they proceed to walk in the store. The overcast daylight from the sky provides enough light for them to enter but the further they go in the darker it becomes.

Jimmy pulls out two flashlights and hands one to his sister. He raises his hand to stop her from moving forward so he can see if there are any walkers stirring in the store. Every place he shines his flashlight he can see store shelves and displays sprawled out across the floor but no sign of walkers just yet. He motions for Jane to stay put while he walks around to look behind the check-out counter.

While standing in place Jane does her own survey of the area with the flashlight when she stops at one of the aisle signs on the floor that says "Baby and Mom". She quietly walks over toward the aisle sign on the floor and starts looking around for a pregnancy test kit. Jimmy walks over to where she is and picks up some A&D ointment he looks over at her crouching down sifting through debris on the floor, "Here's some A &D ointment Judith can use this right?" he asks. She keeps kneeling but turns around to shine the light on what he's holding, "Yea, get as much of that type of stuff as you can." She tells him.

Jimmy looks all over the floor for baby ointment, while he is looking he starts to wonder why Jane can't feel any emotions for her own brothers and yet she is obsessing over Michonne. "Ha, I found one!" She says with a quiet delight. "Found what?" He asks. She stands up victory sprawled across her face, "A pregnancy test." Jimmy looks at her and says, "Jane why are so obsessed over getting rid of Michonne?" She slowly drops her hand with the pregnancy test to her side and with a venomous look on her face she responds, "Because I want Rick to look at me the same way he looks at her…" she lingers momentarily, "…if she's missing he won't stop until he finds her. So the only way he will forget about her is to get rid of her for good." Jane leaves a pause so that her plan can sink in to Jimmy's head. Seconds later she anxiously says, "Now wait here while I go pee."

Jimmy sits on top of one of the shelves on the floor and waits for her. He places his head in his hands wearily because he doesn't want to hurt Rick and his people anymore. He's tired of lying and scheming for her. He doesn't want to hurt these people that helped them escape from Terminus and allowed them in to their survival group. Jimmy is suddenly overcome with feelings of regret and remorse for the things that has he has done since the turn. Especially, what he has done for love of his sister.

A few minutes later, Jane emerges from the corner with a large smile on her face. She starts to walks over toward Jimmy's back while trying to avoid stepping on broken glass. "Jimmy, I'm pregnant again." She tells him with restrained joy in her voice. He doesn't turn around but says in a low voice shaking his head, "Jane…" he pauses, "…you know that isn't Rick's baby that Abe's baby. Don't do this. I don't want to want to play these people anymore."

The look of joy leaves her face as she realizes what Jimmy has said out loud. She places the test stick in her bag then grabs one of the large pieces of glass on the floor. There's a heavier darkness that enters the small town drug store. When she grabs the glass from off the floor she grips it so hard blood begins to ooze from cut it have her hand.

Jane, little by little walks up behind him, "Ever since we were little you were always the gentle one out of the three of us. When mommy was locked away you cried and cried for weeks. I knew then that you would never make it that world without me, and you would've never made it this far now…without me."

She finally reaches his back and wraps her arms around his shoulders and arms and hugs him tightly. She places her nose in his hair and takes a large whiff then, kisses the top of his head. "Jimmy begins to cry silently as he touches her arm, hoping that the love he always wanted from his older sister would suddenly seep through her skin.

"You don't have to lie for me anymore." She kisses his head again then with pity in her voice she goes on to say, "Remember when I told you that I would forgive some day for what you did…" Jimmy begins to feel something liquid dripping on his arm right where her hand was wrapped. As he opens his eyes he can't see exactly what is dripping because the daylight coming isn't enough to cast out the shadows. Just when Jimmy is about to lift up her hand, "…someday I will, but not today" She takes the glass in her hand drags it across her little brother throat.

Jimmy falls to the floor amongst the scattered drug store items. Jane watches her little brother as he desperately gasps for air repeatedly grabbing at his throat with his hands. The blood pouring from his throat begins to spill down around the sides of his neck and on to the floor. As Jane watches the life leave Jimmy's body she sees his bag, flashlight and weapon on the floor and immediately grabs it before the pool of blood reaches it. She starts walking toward the drug store entrance then turns back to look at Jimmy one last time and shakes her head in complete contempt while saying, "Crazy Mommy", and leaves the drug store with what she came for.

As the three men quietly walk through the store Abe asks Glenn, "How are you and Maggie enjoying the company of that little lady so far?" "Oh Judith is great, we almost forgot how nice it is to see baby in this hell on earth." Glenn answers.

"Yep, children bring a sort of joy that can't be explained. I miss mine every day", Abe says. "You had kids?" Glenn asks with shock. "Oh hell yea, a boy and a girl", Abe says with pride in his voice. "Yea, Maggie wants to start a family, I'm like right now?" Abe stops and looks over at Glenn, "Believe me even before this shit storm started people were always using that excuse…" Abe looks around the abandon hardware store but continues, "… even though it seems more relevant now than it did back then. But nonetheless there nothing like have a little person around."

Abe starts looking down the aisles, "My wife and I kept having trouble conceiving, she had about 3 miscarriages. One doctor said it was her, another one said it was me, so I decided fuck it, will adopt some kids. There are plenty of children in the world that need a loving family."

"I hope you don't mind me asking but, what happened?" Glenn gently asks. "Well one day I got a little crazy after I kept seeing a couple of assholes eyeing my wife and daughter. The next morning when I woke up they were gone." Abe points down one of aisles, "Oh there we go."

They walk down the aisle and see a bags of concrete, "I guess you're supposed to stop using concrete when it's the end of the world," Abe laughs. They start loading up the flatbed, by the time they're finish they have five 10 pound bags of concrete and 8 buckets on concrete solution mix. They begin to walk down the main aisle passing by lot of stuff that they could easily put to use. "I wonder why there's so much stuff still here", Glenn says, "With the exception of some stuff on the floor this place is damn near fully stocked.

Suddenly James's barbed wire lead-pipe rolls off the flatbed by accident make a loud clanging noise that echo's throughout the store. In the silence of the store Glenn starts to here movement coming from front. All three turn around and they sees herd of about 20 walkers starting to walk in their direction down the main aisle. More start to emerge from the side aisles. "Come on we gotta move." Abe says.

James pushes the flatbed as fast as he can while still maintaining control. Abe and Glen start killing one or two stragglers that coming from the aisle a head of them. Unfortunately, as James gets closer to the loading dock opening he sees Jane crying hysterically…and without his brother.

Everything around James suddenly starts to move in slow motion and with no sound as it hits him that his little brother is dead. That miserable feeling that hung over his head earlier, has now engulfed every living cell in his body to the point where he couldn't even feel the flatbed cart in the grips of his hands.

"James they got Jimmy! Jimmy!" Jane wailed. James looks at his sister in shock and she continues crying and yelling. Abe and Glenn get to the loading dock and see Jane crying uncontrollably. They stand in shock for a brief second understanding instantly that the group has lost a member.

Glenn looks over at James feeling sorry for him but yells anyway, "James I sorry man but we got to get the hell out of here." Abe grabs the flatbed cart from Jimmy and rolls it down the ramp to the trunk of the vehicle and they begins to quickly load up concrete.

Just as Abe is about closes the trunk walkers start to approach the loading dock entrance. "Get in the car let's go!" Abe yells. Everyone gets in the car and as they back away from the loading dock walkers start to walk and fall off the platform and down the loading dock ramp. He shifts the car back in drive and speeds through the parking lot then down the main road back to the cul de sac.


	19. Chapter 19: The Baby Factor Part 2

Daryl and Tero start walking toward the first bar across from the motel. Once they get close enough they can see that a group has already ran through it because of the front door is hanging off the hinges. "You think we should check it out", Tero asks. "Might as well if we're lucky all the walkers have probably walked out by now." He says shrugging his shoulders.

Daryl cautiously walks toward the entrance and shines his flashlight inside the bar. Panning around the room he hears a raspy moan so he shines the flashlight over toward the noise and he sees one lone female walker wearing a pole dancer's outfit pacing around stage floor. "Damn after all this shit she's still working", he says with disgust. Tero pops his head in the doorway and looks at the walker, "You got jokes Dixon." Tero laughs.

They walk in and look around the dark bar. The only light in the bar is coming from the large front window by the front door. Daryl gestures to Tero to shine the flashlight on the walker so he can kill it. He hits her straight through the eye socket then walks over to retrieve his arrow.

As he walks over to the dead walker he sees that the table and chair were thrown across the room, "Yea, some people already been through here." He walks behind the long oak bar and starts looking through the shelves below and behind him for some alcohol. When he finally reaches the other end of the bar he finds two lonely bottles of peach schnapps. "Damn, why the hell do bars have this Schnapps shit if nobody likes", he says holding up the bottle for Tero to see.

"Damn!" Tero says with a foul look upon his face, "It's the end of the fucking world and we can't find one decent drink!" He walks over to end of the bar and sits down, "I guess this is what you're supposed to drink when your living in hell." Tero laughs. Daryl grabs two shot glasses and he pours two shots for him and his war buddy. Right before they throw the shots down their throats Daryl states, "Hell sucks ass man!"

Tero gestures for another shot, "So what's up with your man and his women?" Daryl does a quick one shoulder shrug then pours another shot for the two of them, "I don't know…" he downs another shot this time with a sour look on his face from the burn in his throat from the schnapps, "…they just got some shit to work out that's all." Tero lifts his shot up in the air, "Well here to hoping that ditch that baggage soon before it's too late." Daryl pours another shot for himself and says, "I'll drink to that."

Tero hands Daryl a pack of smokes and some matches then he hands him a joint out of his shirt pocket. Daryl lights the joint and takes a hit then passes it over to Tero. When Daryl blows the weed smoke out he thinks he hears a faint banging coming from the bar, "Damn T this some good shit cause I am hearing shit already," he chuckles. "You hear that?" Tero blows the weed smoke out and listens, "Yea I hear it, sounds like it coming from the floor or we are really high, he laughs. Daryl giggles a little then quietly walks toward the other end of the bar. He stops right in front of an extremely large bar mat. He bends down to lift up the mat and sees a trap door. He clearly hears banging and scratching noises coming from it.

Rick and Michonne start walking down the corridor checking in the empty motel rooms that they cleared earlier. They're placing items in the hallway that they'll be taking with them once they leave. In one of the rooms Michonne finds a netted bag of sports equipment. She smiles at how excited Carl will be once he sees the football. She's thinking that maybe Carl and Rick will have some down time to play catch. She pulls the football out of the netted bag and walks out of the room.

Rick slowly walks out one of the other rooms reading a manual. He looks up at Michonne and stuffs the manual in is bag, "Where did you find that?" He asks holding up his hands for her to through the football. She throws to him, "It was in here." She shows him the netted bag full of sports equipment. He walks closer to the bag to get a better look at what's inside. He grins, "It might be nice to do something recreational in the neighborhood besides killing and building." She looks up at him shaking her head in agreement.

Rick looks down both sides of the hallway, "Alright, you wanna check out that diner attached to the lobby down stairs?" "Yes, I am starving." Michonne admits. When they get in the small motel lobby they check behind the check-out desk and in the back office for supplies. "When they walk in to the manager's office they can easily see that people have already been through it.

Rick walks behind the desk and checks all the drawers, then he bends down and looks underneath the desk to see if there any hidden compartments. Michonne looks at him strangely, "What are you looking for down there?" "My boss used to have a desk similar to this with a hidden a compartment; he kept two bottles of whiskey in it. Poor guy stayed drunk." He says in a muffled voice from under the desk. Michonne hears a click then Rick places two unopened bottles of scotch and whisky on the desk, "See." Rick stands up and puts the bottles in his bag, "Come on let's see if we can find something to eat around here."

Once they go in to the diner they see plenty of broken glass and toppled shelves sprawled out on the floor. The two aren't surprised but they had hoped that something was hidden away that scavengers may have over looked. Michonne ventures in to the kitchen and sees that it too is pretty empty. The walk-in freezer door is wide open and bare. She walks around the long stainless steel cutting table looking underneath it to see if there's anything that neighborhood could use but there was nothing.

She walks to the other end of the kitchen in to a storage room just as Rick is about to enter front of the kitchen. He hears her gasp and quickly walks toward the outburst, "Chonne, Chonne what wrong!" When he finally reaches the storage room, he sees Michonne trying to open a huge jar of onion pickles. He relaxes his stance a bit as he fondly watches the little girl in her try to open the jar, "I used to eat these damn things all day a kid", she tells him.

Rick walks over and chuckles a little, "Give it here." Once he opens the jar the smell sharply hit is nose, "Oh that smells awful", he tells her with a sour look on his face. He laughs and hands her jar. Michonne places the jar on the shelf and grabs one of the onion pickles then proceeds to peel a layer of onion skin.

Rick watches her with some revolt as she eats the peeled onion skin. "What? It's sour but it's good!" Michonne tells him while chewing the skin. She starts to peel another layer off then starts to stroll closer to Rick ready to taunt, "Try one," she says with a naughty grin. Rick jerks his head back, "No, I don't want any of that shit!" "Come on, it's good", Michonne laughs as she gets closer. Rick starts laughing, "No, I told you don't want it", as she gets closer to him he stops moving back and grabs her wrist with the onion skin in her hand and smiles at her display of playfulness.

Nonetheless, in that short playful moment the mood changes, Rick wraps his other arm around the back of Michonne's waist and gradually pulls her in close. Then he smoothly places her wrist around his neck and locks both his hands around the back of her waist. He looks down at her pickled juiced lips and quietly presses his lips to hers. A few seconds later Rick pulls away from Michonne lips just a little bit and licks his lips, "Oh, that doesn't taste all that bad." he remarks in a low seductive voice. "See, I wouldn't tell you try anything that I wouldn't try myself." She says.

Once they start their lip embrace again Michonne starts to feel awkward because this kiss isn't lustful in fact it's a bit too personal for her. Michonne beings to pull away from Rick, the only time she felt comfortable with him this close is when he they're about to get very grimy. Intimate moments still didn't sit well with her. Passionate moments were sort of fleeting for her so she could handle those stages of intense affection but, to do it just for the sake of being close was a big problem for her.

Michonne looks away from Ricks aqua blues and nervously pulls herself out of his grip and places the lid back on the jar, "We had better go check, I mean find Daryl and Tero", she tells him.

Rick notices the quick mood change in Michonne. He sees the same reaction from her every time he wants to show her tenderness. He snickers to his self a little bit as he grabs the jar of onion pickles.

Rick and Michonne walk across the parking lot in silence. Rick's checking out the signs on the some of the other buildings when he decides to ask her, "Michonne, are you…" They stop abruptly when they hear someone laughing in the distance. As they get closer the bar the laughter becomes louder. When they look inside they see Tero with his head on the bar, but they don't see Daryl. Rick walks in slowly, "Hey, hey, where's Daryl?" Tero turns around. "I'm on the floor down here!" Daryl laughs hysterically.

Rick and Michonne walk to the end of the bar and see Daryl holding his stomach he's laughing so hard. "Are you having a good time?" Rick asks smiling down at Daryl. Daryl warily gets up, "It's this old man" Daryl laughs. Michonne sees the partial roach burning in the ash tray and giggles, "No, it's probably that." She bumps Rick's arm and points to the ash tray. Daryl glances at Tero, "I'm not talking to you no more T." He laughs trying to calm himself down.

Daryl finally stops laughing and motion to everyone to be silent and points to the trap door in the floor of the bar. He gestures everybody to stay quiet so they can hear the banging and scratching noise coming from it. "We figured we should wait for back up before we check it out." He whispers to Rick.

Rick and Daryl stand on the side of the trap door opening and then he motions for Tero to open the trap door, he explained to him a few minutes before to open the door in small controlled bursts so they can kill the walkers trapped in the cellar one at a time. About a half dozen walkers later, Rick throws a crack ash tray down the hole making sure all the walkers are out.

Michonne walks down the cellar steps with a flashlight and begins to look around for movement. Walking around the large cellar she can see that most of the stuff down there is unopened. There are all kinds of beer kegs and bottles of wines. Crates full of alcohol and shelves with large jars full of olives, cherries and other drink garnishments. In the far corner there are stacked boxes of pretzels, peanuts and chips. Everything looks as fresh as the day it was brought there. At the other end of the cellar is a wide ramp that lead to some doors, she tries to open them but their locked from the outside.

Rick and Daryl make their way into the cellar with their flashlights, "Holy shit! A Tero the good stuff is down here!" Daryl shouts. Rick scans the wall for a light switch. He finds one, flips the switch and the dim ceiling flourecent lights come. Daryl looks at the lights in the ceiling. "Must be some kind of backup generator the owners must have tried to hide out here or something." Rick explains. He points to the dry pools of blood by the wall, "Or maybe someone got shot or bit and died down here. Where the hell is she?" Rick adds. Daryl points down to the far end of the cellar.

Michonne starts walking back toward Rick and Daryl, "I don't know how we are gonna get all this stuff back to the block", she tells the two. "We aren't", Rick says, "Nobody knows about this so far. We will take what we can and close it back up tight. That way if we should ever have to leave the block in a hurry we will have spot with shelter and food. But for now we need to get some of this stuff out of here and in to our vehicles." "Well those doors down there are locked from the outside." She informs them.

"Aight then, me and T will drive around to the back." Daryl tells them going back up the cellars stairs. "Check to see if there are some keys on any of those walkers for the locks, hopefully Tero has some bolt cutters." Rick yells back.

Daryl and Tero begin walking towards the back of the bar. When they turn the corner they come face to face with 7 walkers. Daryl quickly pushes one of the walkers back away from him. Tero bashes one in the head with his weapon but once the walker dies it falls on top of him causing him to fall straight back on to the pavement knocking all the wind out of him. Daryl shoots a couple walkers with his crossbow while Tero gets up, "T, you alright?" Daryl shouts. Tero manages to get up and kills a few more walkers.

After Daryl and Tero kill the walkers, Tero starts coughing uncontrollably and places his hand on the brick wall of the bar for support. While attempting to cover his cough with his hand he realizes that he's coughing up blood. Daryl walks over to him seeing the blood in his hand, "Damn T, are you alright?" He asks him with concern.

Tero finally stops coughing, "I'm alright", he says. Daryl walks over to him, "Man your coughing up blood, I would hardly consider you to be alright." Tero lifts himself off the wall and tells Daryl, "Its nature's way of tell me my time here is coming to a close." He takes a handkerchief out of his back pocket to wipe the blood off his hand and his mouth, "Ever since Shelia died I've been waiting out the days alone in that house waiting to die. With exception of wall patrol every now and then, so when they needed a volunteer to meet up with you I spoke up. And as luck would have it I was able to come out, have few drinks and got some good laughs in the process. I haven't had a good laugh in a while all in all this has been a great day for me."

Tero can see that Daryl is a little pissed because he came on this run knowing full well that he's very sick, "Daryl, we all have an expiration date. Things being the way they are now…" Tero pauses, "Look just remember, every day that you are alive and kicking is a damn good day." He grabs the bolt cutters off the ground and starts walking over to the back of the bar, "Come on let's see if there's a lock on this back door."

Michonne walks over to the one of the wine cabinets and pulls out a bottle of white wine. The last time she had white wine was a few weeks before her, Mike, Terry and Andre' left for the refugee center. She inspects the bottle while smiling at the memory of that night with Mike.

Rick observes her smiling at the bottle of wine and walks over to her, "What are you smiling about?" Michonne quickly shoves herself back in to reality and put's the bottle back on the shelf. With a nonchalant side step she averts the closeness of the moment with Rick by walking away and saying, "I bet Judith will love cherries."

Rick puts his weapon down on a mini wine shelf against the wall of the cellar. "Chonne, are you trying to avoid being close to me?" Rick inquires. Michonne turns around and squints at him with intense earnest, "Really? You're gonna ask me that after what took place in the motel room this morning?" She heads over to the boxes of pretzels, "I'm pretty sure every position you had me in earlier used to be illegal in this state." She jokes. "Besides, I think we know each other well enough, right?" She picks up one of the boxes and moves it closer to the loading entrance then, with absurdity she adds, "We don't have to be like Glenn and Maggie constantly reassuring one another over and over again about how we feel, right?"

Rick walks over to Michonne and intently stands in her personal space. Feeling the awkwardness of the moment she starts to back away slowing attempting to put more space in between them but every time she steps back Rick steps closer. This continues on in silence until her back is against the wall. Rick places his forearm against the wall over top of Michonne's head, he tilts his head slightly while looking in to her sparkling brown sugar eyes and subtly says, "I mean close like this."

Michonne looks at the floor and walls trying to avoid eye contact with Rick. He moves her chin so she can look in his electric blue eyes, and with all modesty he asks her, "Chonne, the only time your comfortable being near me like this is when we are having sex?" He reaches down to hold her hand in an effort to gauge exactly how rough it is for her to be still with him.

A double honk from Tero's car horn saves Michonne from answering Rick's question and it releases her from this extremely perplexing moment. She slides her hand out of Rick's hand, "We better get started with moving this stuff." She tells him and begins to walk away. He stares at her as she grabs one of the trolleys. It was never easy for Rick to express how he felt about anyone unless was to Carl or Judith. But for some unforeseen reason he felt the need to express his self to her.

Rick and crew head back to the motel. Rick has a box of pretzel and a box of chips in his arms and so does Tero. As the small group begin to walk to their cleared motel rooms, Rick places the boxes on the floor while Tero keeps walking down the left side of the corridor. Michonne walks up to one of the box next to Rick and grabs a couple of bags of pretzels then walks to the room where she left her bag.

Rick and Daryl sit on the floor of the corridor, "So you wanna tell me how you found her?" He asks. Daryl starts checking his bow when he explains, "I was tracking a buck and I heard some walkers nearby. When I went over to the noise I saw the walkers surrounding something, I thought it may have been the deer I was tracking. I was about to walk away when I heard someone's voice, when I looked back again I saw her trying to get away but one of them grabbed her hair stopping her from getting away. So I shot the one holding her hair then the others. Then this morning on the drive over here we ran in to bunch of walkers on one of the bridges", Daryl stops checking his bow and looks at Rick, "I don't know what was making her run away from them yesterday but she cut a shit load of them down this morning. That's why I said she's good now."

Rick nods at his brother, "Well I'm glad you were there to help." Daryl goes back to checking his bow and says, "Me too." "So are the two of you…good now?" Daryl asks. Rick looks down at his weapon, "As good as it can be for right now."

Daryl gets up off the floor then looks down the corridor where Tero was walking, "Old people are always teaching whether they know it or not. But Tero said something earlier…", Rick stands up waiting to her what Tero had to say to Daryl, "…we ain't got the luxury of carrying baggage anymore," Daryl smiles to himself as he repeats Tero's words, "Every day that we're alive and kicking is a damn good day." Rick considers Tero's observation and says, "Yes it is."

The two men walk in opposite directions down the corridor. Daryl knocks on Tero's door, "Hey T you alright for the night?" Tero opens the door and grins at the fact Daryl is checking on him, "Yea Dixon I'm good." Daryl nods and starts walking toward his room. "Ah hold up…" Tero grabs his car keys, a small baggy of weed and Bamboo papers and hands it to Daryl, "…hold on to this for me. I don't want to hold ya'll up if you have to make a quick getaway." Daryl looks at him oddly, "We don't leave no member behind T." Tero looks at him with appreciative smile and tells him, "But you're gonna have to."

Rick walks in to the motel room where Michonne was staying. When he walks in he sees the balcony door wide open. So he closes the door behind him and grabs one of the chairs by the small writing table and props it up against the door handle. He walks over to the balcony door and he sees Michonne sitting on the balcony floor, "Aren't you gonna get some sleep?" he asks her. "No I can keep watch. I don't mind." She tells him.

Rick places his weapon inside the room then comes back out, leans on the balcony railing and watches a walker far off in the distance as the last reminants of daylight are swolled up by the night. "So what's up, why can't you be still with me?" Michonne presses her lips together and makes a deep sigh, "Rick, when I lost…" she gets choked up momentarily, "…I lost everything. I had nothing and nobody. I wanted to cry over losing my baby but I couldn't because I had to keep going so I had to push all my grief, sadness and guilt deep down. I put it some place in me where I can't touch it. Being out there by myself all that time I realized I missed something more than what I lost at that refugee center…I missed people."

Michonne continues with, "So far you haven't experienced being alone but, I don't think there can be anything worse in this world than to be alone. Human beings need contact with other human beings. Day in and day out all I wanted was to see someone anyone. It was like I was the only person left on the planet. I lost my mind out there because I had no one there to console me over the loss of my baby, No one there with me to enjoy finding something as simple as an apple tree, or a can of spam. I had to learn how to survive without one of the most fundamental basic needs that every living thing on this planet must have…a connection to others. That's how I ended up talking to my dead boyfriend. I was out there for months by myself. It could have been a year for all I know."

Michonne goes silent, "What about this morning? How do you explain that?" Rick asks. "Rick did you ever notice that whenever we do what we do it's always in a place where danger is less than a heartbeat away. That need that we fulfill for on another could easily be anything having to do with an adrenaline rush, we could probably accomplish the same thing by fighting one another but, I like what we do better." The two of them blush and smile at each other.

"When we get grimy its primordial not intimate, I have been sitting here considering what you asked of me earlier, I don't think I can be what you need me to be anymore. I don't think I can be that person I used to be. You have been lucky enough to maintain your role as a leader, protector, and father. My role changed the second that refugee center got over run, I had to stop being a girlfriend and a mother, all of that good stuff that makes a women a women…I don't have that anymore and that is something that Judith and Carl should have. They have to have it. I can't get close to anyone anymore Rick, because if I find out what intimacy feels like again and loose it all over again…I won't make it; I know I just won't make it."

The clouds in night sky part for a few moments and moon takes center stage. Rick lifts up of the railing and looks at Michonne. He extends his hand to her, "Come with me." She gets up a little annoyed because she thinks he hasn't heard a word that she's said and she really doesn't feel like having "primordial" sex right now. She's not in the mood.

Rick pulls Michonne inside the room and moves the small writing table against the balcony door. He opens the curtains allowing the moonlight to enter the room. He takes his jacket off while Michonne sits on the side of the bed. Rick lays down on the bed, "Rick I am not in the mood for that right…" He interrupts her, "I guess I'll have to fix your issues with intimacy as often as I can." He grabs her arm and gently pulls her down next to him. He wraps his arm around her stomach and pulls her in tight. They lay in bed oddly still.

Michonne considers getting up and moving over to the other bed cause she feels very uneasy. She lifts Ricks arm from around her stomach then sit up and looks down at him. He looks at her face in the moonlight wondering why she has changed her mind about laying down with him. Michonne doesn't like being nervous or scared about anything so she gives in to this still moment with Rick. She turns around and lays back down on the bed with him, but this time she places her head on his chest right under his chin, wraps her arms around him and curls up to him as close as she can.

Rick readjusts so that he's laying flat on his back then he wraps both arms around her and smiles to himself. He kisses Michonne's forehead while tenderly rubbing her back, in a soft voice he tells her, "Don't worry I'll fix it."


	20. Chapter 20 : Songs of the robin

_**Authors note: I strongly recommend that readers listen to Billie Holiday's vesion of "Summertime" (1936). This song will give you a clearer understanding of the mood on the way back to the cul de sac. However, it is only a suggestion. **_

_**Lanie**_

Songs of the robin

During the wee hours of the morning Daryl starts to stir out of his sleep when he instantly jumps up and out of the motel room bed. As he stands still for a second he realizes that he woke up startled because of the deafening silence all around him. There was absolutely no movement of life. Daryl always had some place to sleep where ever the group settled, but most of the time he spent the night out in the woods hunting.

In that moment, he remembers his brother Merle telling him why robins are always singing right before the sun comes up. He told him, "The robin sings lil brother, right before day break to let other birds know that he's managed to live through the night."

Since the outbreak Daryl had come to rely on the songs of robins in the early hours of the morning to remind him that he has managed to live through the night.

He walks over to the window to look outside. The night was ending as he examined the horizon growing brighter and brighter. The sun is being hidden by those same gloomy overcast clouds that have followed the group ever since they arrived at the cul de sac. He goes in to the bathroom to see if any water comes out of the faucet, when he turns it on a tiny but steady stream of water starts to come out so he splashes the water on his face then cups some in his mouth. He looks around the small bathroom for something to wash his face with; once he finds something he goes back to the sink only to see that the steady stream of water has turned brown.

Daryl looks out of the window again to check for walkers on the balcony then he grabs his crossbow and walks out of the motel room into the corridor leaving his door slightly open. He walks over to the room door where Tero had been staying and stands in front of it in silence.

Tero was like any other senior citizen; he woke up at the crack of dawn every morning. If he wasn't on walker patrol with Daryl overnight he would always come see Daryl before his shift was over and smoke a joint with him right before someone came to relieve him.

Daryl warily raises his hand to knock on Tero's door; but he pauses and begins to thinking about that early morning robin. In a fit of denial Daryl says sedately under his breath, "You probably tired from all that shit from yesterday", so instead of knocking on the door he starts collecting some of the items left in the corridor that they planned on taking back to the cul de sac and goes down stairs to the motel lobby.

Once outside, Daryl places the items on the bench outside the lobby door and looks over at Tero's SUV to make sure that it's still there, and then he starts to walk toward the back of the building to make sure the truck he came in is still intact. Just as he is about to turn the corner he can hear the tarp on the back of the truck blowing in the wind. When he turns the corner he sees the back of the truck engulfed by walkers eat the buck that he and Michonne cut up the day before yesterday.

_Rick is walking along the path in the woods where he set up the snares to catch small game. As he begins to walk up on one of the snares he notices a fox trying to pull a squirrel from the snare. He stealthily approaches the fox still tugging away at the squirrel then Rick jumps to ground grabbing the fox by the neck and screams, "I got you now!" The fox fights Rick by trying to bite his fingers and wildly waving its claws around attempting to scratch him. _

_Rick violently shakes and holds the fox's neck trying to choke it to death when Carl walks up behind him and yells, "Stop it, stop it! You're killing her!" Rick looks back at Carl confused as to why Carl cares about the fox he's trying to choke and why does he assume it's a female. When Rick goes to look back at the fox he sees his hands are around Michonne's neck._

Rick and Michonne are lying in bed side by side; He has his arm wrapped around her stomach when he is jarred out of his sleep from the nightmare of choking her. As soon as he realizes it was just a dream he turns his head and sees that she is still asleep. He lays his head back down and pulls her in to him a little tighter when he suddenly hears a frantic knock at the door.

Rick jumps up and runs over to the door; Michonne sits up and grabs her katana. He opens the door and sees Daryl anxious and with concern written all over his face. "We got about 25-30 walkers eaten the hell out of deer I caught the other day. We gotta get out of here." Daryl tells him. "What about the SUV? Is it still accessible?" Rick asks while putting his jacket on. "Yea but not for long," Daryl answers, "Alright you and Chonne start gathering up the stuff, wake up Tero and get the car keys." Rick tells him. Daryl hands him Tero's keys.

Michonne walks over to Rick and hands him his weapon and his gun. "Go wake up T and let's get out the hell out of here. I'll pull around to the side stairs ya'll start throwing the stuff down." Rick tells them.

Michonne and Daryl start grabbing the stuff lying against the walls of the motel rooms and they start throwing it down the side stairs. As the two of them gather the last of the supplies Michonne runs in to Daryl room and grabs his stuff. Immediately upon coming out of his room she sees Daryl knocking on Tero's door. She begins to walk over to Daryl just as he's dropping his head down. As she gets closer she can hear moans and clawing on the other side of Tero's door. Michonne looks away sadly realizing what has happened. Daryl places his hand on door and says in a low voice, "Sorry brother, you'll be missed T."

Rick pulls the SUV around to the side stairs and starts stuffing the bags that they threw down in car. Daryl and Michonne start coming down the stairs and start to help him load up the vehicle. Michonne goes to grab another bag when she sees two walkers coming around the corner. Rick and Daryl don't see the walkers so she stops helping, runs over to the walkers and slashes both walker heads in half with one strike. She peeks around the corner of the building and catches sight of a line of walkers on their way towards the corner of the building. She turns around and quickly runs back to the car and tells them, "Come on we gotta go, they're coming."

Michonne gets in the passenger while Daryl makes room in the backseat to get in. Rick gets in the driver's seat and puts the key in the ignition. He looks around and says, "Where's Tero?" Michonne looks over at Rick closes her eyes, and shakes her head with regret. He looks at Michonne and is about to say something when he sees the walkers coming around corner.

Once they pull off from the trucker motel Rick asks, "Did you guys close the doors to the room?" Michonne shakes her head yes. "This place would be a good plan B if we ever have to hurry up and leave the cul de sac," he says.

The three ride along route 85 in silence. Daryl starts to think about the loss of his buddy and gets agitated and starts to shove the stuff in the backseat around so he can lay his head on the car door arm rest. Rick and Michonne hear his frustration but don't say a word.

Michonne begins to delve through Tero's CD case. All the CD's are from a time in the early 20th century, a time in civilization that will soon be considered nothing more than folklore. She pulls out a Billie Holiday CD and places it in to the CD player.

The first song that comes on is "Summertime", as the sultry horns and drums of the song begins to play, Lady Day's words seems to creates an ideal back drop as they drive by the high fields of wheat and cotton lined along the sides of route 85, almost as if Ms. Holiday was purposely mocking the events of morning. Rick, Michonne and Daryl listen to the words attentively.

_Summertime and the livin' is easy/_

_Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high/_

_Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'/_

_So hush little baby, don't you cry/_

_One of these mornings, you're goin' to rise up singin'/_

_Then you spread your wings and you'll take the sky/_

_But 'til that mornin', there's nothin' can harm you/_

_With daddy and mammy standin' by/_

As he listens to the song, Rick begins to think about the loss of Tero and how less than 24 hours ago was so grateful that Michonne was o.k. Tero's death reminds Rick that he no control of anything in this world. So he speeds up in an attempt to get back to Carl and Judith faster.

Rick recalls the conversation he and Tero had on the way over and what Daryl told him yesterday. In an attempt to work on Michonne's issues with intimacy, he glances at her and then reaches for the hand of the one thing that he could control from time to time. And that was giving pleasure to the zombie killing goddess in the seat next to him.

Rick swerves out the way of a walker on the road, in the process some of the stuff in the hatch spills on to the back seat. "Shit!" Daryl says annoyingly. Once he pushes the stuff back in to the hatch he glances up front and notices that Rick has his hand on top of Michonne's. He lies back down on the car door armrest and considers what Tero said in the bar about "Rick and his woman." Daryl lifts his head a little to see if Rick is still holding her hand and lies back down again with a tiny grin on his face of relief. He felt contentment knowing that Tero's lessons were finally being put in to practice by the both of them.


End file.
